Paul, Jimmy, and I formed a three-person film club to support our recently re-opened local independent movie theater, The Spectrum. We committed to attending a film together every month. Last night was our first go, and we brought along my niece, Ani, who was visiting.
It was Paul’s idea for the club, so he got to choose the first movie: Anora, a genre mashup I’ll call a romdramedy—romance, drama, and comedy all baked into a stellar work of art. Without question, it’s the best movie I’ve seen this year, maybe in several years. Starring Mikey Madison in a breakout role as Anora (goes by Ani, no relation to my relation), a sex worker in Brooklyn who impulsively marries one of her clients, Vanya, the entitled and immature son of a Russian billionaire. Complications ensue.
Anora carries the scent of fairy-tale tropes like Cinderella and Pretty Woman, but with a much darker and more sophisticated take on class differences and power structures, and very different character arcs.
Vanya is ostensibly in the United States to attend school, but prefers partying, video games, and spending his parents’ bottomless treasure chest of money on his own hedonism. He becomes enamored with the Russian-speaking Ani, and goes from paying her to marrying her. Once word about his marriage reaches Vanya’s parents back in Russia, they send their fixer and his henchmen toensure the marriage is annulled.
But Ani isn’t so easily persuaded by the tough guys, and Vanya runs off like the little boy that he is, and so the second half of the movie involves bursting Ani’s bubble, tracking Vanya down, and taking care of business on behalf of the parents. The first half of the movie is sex—and lots of it. After all, Ani is a sex worker in a high-end Manhattan club.
The acting, especially Mikey Madison’s performance, is award-winning, the filming a visual feast, the dialog authentic, the story well-paced and believable, the comedy and drama perfectly blended, and the ending satisfying. What more can you want? At a 2:20 runtime, the film is a little long, with some scenes and sequences drawn out more than necessary, but it’s never boring. The four of us left the theater impressed. Highly recommended.
5/5 Stars
