A stripper from Brooklyn meets the son of a Russian billionaire — and the fairy tale begins. Or the tragedy. Anora looks like a love story, but it ends up as something else entirely: raw, moving and real.
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Disclaimer: Apropos Magazine received access or a review copy. As always, we share our own impressions — unfiltered.
Six stars
Anora (Mikey Madison) works as a stripper in Brooklyn. She meets Vanya, the son of a Russian billionaire, with equal parts charm and naivety. They fall in love — quickly, fiercely and inevitably. But when Anora marries him, an entirely different drama rolls in: Vanya’s parents. And they are not prepared to let their son pass on the inheritance and the family name to a girl from the club.
What looks like a comedy slowly turns into something else entirely.
Director Sean Baker has already shown his talent for balancing the kitschy with the crushing (The Florida Project, Red Rocket), and here he is in top form. Anora is lively, funny and sparkling — until it isn’t anymore. The film’s tone shifts subtly, and before you know it, you’re suddenly caught in a real drama with real consequences.
Mikey Madison is a revelation. She plays Anora with exactly the right mix of street-smart attitude and vulnerability. She’s funny, sarcastic and intensely human. When she fights for her relationship — and maybe just a little for a better life — it lands.
There’s something Pretty Woman-esque about the plot, but without the illusions. No glam, no moral lesson. Just people muddling through each other’s lives and trying to keep it all together while money and power knock at the door. It’s a kind of romantic realism with vodka and bad decisions — and it works.
Sean Baker’s eye for the margins of American society is razor-sharp once again. Where many filmmakers would turn Anora into a cliché — a tragic or caricatured figure — Baker gives her agency and nuance. She is neither saint nor victim. She is a woman trying to understand what love is in a country where everything can be bought, and nothing is free.
Visually, the film is a gift too. It’s Brooklyn with neon lights and greasy back rooms, Las Vegas with fake castles and real desperation. The camera is observant and honest — without filter, without glitter, and yet beautiful. And then there are the details: the small smiles between two people hoping a little too much. The empty stares when reality hits. That’s where the film becomes moving.
The soundtrack also plays an important role. Not flashy, not overdone, but precise. The songs you’ve heard in clubs and kitchens at half past three in the morning. Music that doesn’t try to be cool, but simply is there — just like Anora herself.
It’s not a perfect film.
At times, the portrait of the Russian parents is a little too caricatured, and the ending will definitely divide audiences. But you can feel the heart behind it. It isn’t cynical. It’s just honest.
And let’s be honest: this is a film you’ll want to discuss afterwards. Not because it begs for it, but because it gets under your skin. It makes you think about the choices people make, and who actually pays for them. It’s one of those rare films that feels both small and huge at the same time.
Verdict:
Anora is a film that surprises. It starts as a flirt and ends as a reckoning — with class, with love and with the illusion of the American dream. It doesn’t hit every mark, but it hits enough.
4 out of 5 Apropos stars. For love that can’t be bought — and illusions that don’t hold.
