Review: Anora

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Official synopsis: Anora, (Mikey Madison) a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meets and impulsively marries the son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Sorry for being MIA since Nov 6th - The election depressed me, and then I had a full week of work travel. Now I'm trying to play catch up with everything I missed. Of course I had to start my return to the theater with one of the most talked about movies of the year.

I've come to really enjoy Sean Baker's films. He often depicts sex workers in a very gentle and judgement free way, and that's no different in this story. I'm not quite sure what I expected from Anora, but it ended up being quite a bit funnier than I was anticipating. It could almost pass for a road trip comedy at one point. In a very ridiculous way, sure. But the thought was there.

Mikey Madison has been catching viewers eyes in plenty of supporting roles over the past few years, but here is where she gets her moment. She's wonderful as Anora. She's the perfect combination of sweet and tough. Not to mention she had to learn some pretty elaborate dance moves which my old ass could never. The supporting cast forms a chaotic circle around her. Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan are so funny and Yura Borisov gives a very nuanced performance. I wouldn't be surprised if both him and Mikey get a lot of attention for this film.

That being said, I didn't love the final 20 minutes or so of this film. The film ends on it's most emotionally charged scene, and I wish we could've moved 5 to 10 minutes of the film's earlier runtime to go after it just so we could explore it more. It does make for a powerful final scene, but I felt a bit robbed of what could've come after.

Still, Baker continues to impress and this is hopefully going to be a star making vehicle for Madison and Borisov. Highly recommend.

Grade: B+

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