July 8, 2025 Your Source for Brentwood News

Film Review: Anora

By Dolores Quintana

Anora is writer and director Sean Baker’s newest punch to the cinematic consciousness. It is a chaotic fairytale where Cinderella has a powerful right hook and an equally powerful heart.  It’s like cinematic cocaine and only in the best sense. 

There is a real excitement around the film and I can assure you that the excitement is very real and comes from Baker’s powerful filmmaking and insights about the human character. 

You can watch the Red Band trailer here: 

Here is the synopsis: Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Baker has not only an amazing understanding of human needs and foibles, but he champions those who society normally looks down on. With Anora, he is taking on one of the most easily disparaged groups: erotic dancers and sex workers. 

It is easy to be contemptuous of young women who undertake this profession and scorn has been heaped upon them from time immemorial. Baker has put a sex worker who is an exceptionally strong and uncompromising woman who doesn’t tolerate being disparaged at the center of the narrative. 

Mikey Madison plays Anora/Ani, Mark Eydelshteyn plays Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov, Yura Borisov plays Igor, Karren Karagulian plays Toros, Vache Tovmasyan plays Garnick, Ivy Wolk plays Crystal, and Aleksei Serebryakov plays Nikolai Zakharov.

The film is like every wild night you’ve ever had where things are larger than life and so amazing that you wish every day could be like that, but you know it never could. If you’ve never had that type of chaos in your life, it’s addicting and intoxicating. It might be the reason people do drugs. They need that kind of excitement, eternally. But that’s why I called it cinematic cocaine, on the upswing of the narrative, it has an exhilarating high that takes the audience and the viewer on a ride, unlike most films. It is filled with authentic joy.

Baker has totally captured that kind of high on film, that feeling of being young, gorgeous, rich, and that you will never have to pay the bill, running from excess to wild adventure. The world is yours. 

Mikey Madison, who made her mark in Better Things, Scream, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a star. Her Ani/Anora, who refuses to go by her more ethnic name, glows with beauty and charm, but under her tough shell, has real warmth and tenderness that she guards fiercely. She yearns for more. Her performance is not the cliche so long beloved by Hollywood screenwriters about women of her profession. She’s a real person and it goes a long way towards showing the audience that the women of her vocation are people. You can see why Ivan falls for her and how she gently begins to trust.

Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan is at first charismatic and commanding, but much more fragile and ruined than he first appears. He is a man who creates wreckage by playing with people like toys because he doesn’t have the spine he thinks he has. 

Another character that is so memorable is the sad-eyed Igor played by Yura Borisov. He’s quiet but Borisov slowly peels away the character’s layers of goodness and decency. He’s not what Hollywood would write as the usual henchman either. 

Sean Baker has taken characters that normally are cliches and expands them with humanity and grace. Nearly everyone is multi-layered and someone that you can empathize with even when they are doing things that are not good or good for them. 

More than that, Baker brings out the natural comedy of the situation and the film is frequently hilarious and sometimes tragicomic, but it’s never at the expense of the characters. His vision is unclouded by the tired tropes. He writes and directs living and breathing human beings and you can tell he does not look down on them, especially Ani and her friends.

There’s a reason why the film won the Palme d’Or, the first American film to win the prize since 2011. 

Anora is the fragile human soul wrapped in a Russian sable, suffused with hope that can roar into blinding rage. It is the story of those who are shot into the sky to be beautiful and self-destruct for rich men’s amusement or evolve into something new. Who really has the power and what is the real currency? Money might be able to buy you a good time, but it can never give you that tender core of goodness and mercy.

Sean Baker’s powerful filmmaking has the magic to bring empathy to those who society stigmatizes. Indeed, Anora is the empathy machine that Roger Ebert spoke of not too long ago.

Related Posts

One Last Bite: La Novia Bids Farewell with Final Pop-Up at Cardinale du Vin

July 8, 2025

July 8, 2025

Inventive Latin-Asian Pop-up Serves Seasonal Small Plates for One-Night-Only La Novia, the pop-up kitchen known for its inventive Latin-Asian flavors,...

Interview: The Dinah Creator Mariah Hanson on Legacy, Change, and the Future of Queer Celebration

July 8, 2025

July 8, 2025

After 34 Groundbreaking Years, Hanson Reflects on Joy, Power, and Her Final Dinah  We spoke with Mariah Hanson, the creator...

Change in LAPD Coverage for Brentwood Residents as Officer Kirk Takes Leave

July 8, 2025

July 8, 2025

Officer Kirk on Vacation Until Late July—Here’s Who to Contact Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer Matthew Kirk will...

Shore Hotel: A Local Destination for Summer Fun

July 8, 2025

July 8, 2025

Bring on all things summer. Walking or biking along Santa Monica Pier, you might find yourself taking a pause at...

Governor Newsom Unveils Fast-Track Rebuilding Plan on Six-Month Anniversary of Palisades Fire

July 7, 2025

July 7, 2025

State Clears Over 5.5 Billion Pounds of Debris From Fires Ahead of Schedule Marking six months since the devastating Eaton...

Soprano Golda Zahra Returns to BroadStage For a One-Night-Only Musical Celebration

July 7, 2025

July 7, 2025

Hailed as “the rising star of the opera world” by The Hollywood Times, internationally acclaimed soprano Golda Zahra makes her much-anticipated return to BroadStage in...

Transform Your Life: The Free Virtual ONENESS GLOBAL SUMMIT Debuts July 18-20, 2025

July 7, 2025

July 7, 2025

The ONENESS GLOBAL SUMMIT, a transformative three-day virtual event, is coming, July 18-20, 2025, offering participants worldwide a free opportunity...

Ben Affleck Allegedly Spotted House-Hunting in Brentwood Actor Tours Homes Near Ex-Wife

July 7, 2025

July 7, 2025

The Oscar Winner Was Seen Leaving His Office and Then Checking Out Luxury Listings Ben Affleck was seen appearing tense...

Bel Air and Holmby Hills Estates Lead May’s List of America’s Top 10 Home Sales

July 7, 2025

July 7, 2025

LA Claims Two of the Top Three Luxury Home Sales Last Month Breaking into the nine-figure range, a recently sold...

Michael Madsen, Star of Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, Dies at 67 in Malibu

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Actor Remembered for His Intense Performances and as a Poet  Actor Michael Madsen, known for his distinctive gravelly voice and...

Los Angeles City Council Cracks Down on ‘Disaster Tours’ in Pacific Palisades

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

City Council Bans Commercial Bus Tours in Burn Zone Amid Community Backlash Tour buses that have been operating in fire-ravaged...

Tow Truck Scammers Target Crash Victims Across L.A.: Authorities Warn of Fraud at Accident Scenes

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Officials Urge Drivers to Stay Alert After Collisions as Rogue Operators Demand Inflated Fees  Motorists involved in vehicle accidents are...

Woman Dies After Melrose Store Altercation: LAPD Launches Homicide Investigation

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Critically Injured Young Woman Died July 2, After She was Badly Beaten at Work  The death of a woman critically...

CHP Officer Dies in Culver City Crash: Medical Emergency Suspected Behind Tragic Incident

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Officer lost consciousness while transporting a suspect before crashing into a tree California Highway Patrol Officer Miguel Cano died early...

L.A. Beaches Brace for Holiday Rush: Over 1 Million Visitors Expected This Fourth of July

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

County Officials Urge Beachgoers to Pack Out Their Trash and  Monitor Water Quality More than one million visitors are expected...