Anora (2024)

Sean Baker has become one of the most interesting directors currently in work- his breakout film Tangerine (2015) was eccentric for being shot entirely using three iPhone 5S devices. But technological intricacies are far from the only reason Baker is now a household name; his last two films (Red Rocket [2021] and The Florida Project [2017]) both garnered plenty of critical acclaim, and his latest, Anora, is an early front runner for next years Academy Awards.

Baker's films usually center on humanistic tales, telling stories of troubled or difficult lives and Anora is no different; combining what might in some circles be coined a Cinderella story unflinchingly meeting an Eastern Promises (2007) era David Cronenburg in the setting of a Paul Verhoeven erotic thriller.

Disney this is not; Anora opens with in your face nudity as we enter a strip club where the titular Anora ('Ani') works, demonstrably not a sex-worker (but occasionally moonlighting as one on the side) and evidently more intelligent than many of her colleagues. This reveals itself when she's introduced to a rich, young client-Vanya, spoilt son of a Russian oligarch, keen to throw as much money around as possible in the hope of inconveniencing his absent parents. Ani, it turns out, can speak Russian.

Vanya and Ani embark on a whirlwind romance as he hires her for a week (so far, so Pretty Woman [1990]) and treats her like a princess- amidst a haze of beer, drugs, parties, and gaming- and eventually takes her to Vegas for a spur of the moment marriage. Vanya's parents, preoccupied until now, suddenly learn of these events and things spiral swiftly.

Mikey Madison is astonishing as Anora. Last seen by me personally in her bit part role in the last segment of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), she explodes off the screen here- quite literally in a scene in which Vanya's (amusingly affectionate at times) goons try to keep her quiet without accidentally veering into assault as they try to sort out the situation. If she's not up for every award going come next year, something's gone badly wrong.

Mark Eidelstein is vastly convincing as Vanya; sidelined and overlooked by his parents with more money than he knows what to do with. You can see him believing his own charade at times, he seems to convince himself of a world within a world in which he spends time with Ani; but as soon as that's shattered by reality, he retreats into the self-obsessed whining selfish teenager you always knew was simmering beneath the surface of plastic longing. He clearly wants to be loved, but is ultimately more interested in his parental complex.

Anora races along at breakneck speed, Baker's trademark black comedy litters the piece from the outset and frequently you don't know whether to fall about laughing or feel wildly uncomfortable. Anora's finale sums up the film in near perfect fashion- you've sat through two hours of breathless tragicomic drama, and ultimately you finish where you began- but the journey Baker takes you on is breathless roller-coaster of human drama. 8.4/10