There aren't many movies these days like Anora so when a gem like this comes along, you must embrace it.
Anora is a reminder that movies can be funny and dramatic and entertaining at the same time, and all you need is smart writing, great actors, and an imaginative director. You don't need special effects, aliens, or things blowing up all the time -- the best action, the best humor, and the best stories come from showing human condition in all its reality.
And Anora is a great NYC movie that shows the city's unknown, outborough underbelly.
Anora, called Ani, is a stripper from Brighton Beach, working at a club, living miserably with her family, and hooking on the side. One night she catches the eye of a the son of a Russian oligarch and lap dance, a paid liaison, and some partying leads to an impromptu marriage -- until the oligarch son's father gets wind of it and all hell breaks loose.
What starts as a Cinderella story quickly turns into a madcap yarn where expletives, fists, and even cars go flying. Amazingly this movies quickly turns into the equivalent of an NYC road movie where Anora the oligarch's goons go looking for the wayward son. There are parts of this movie that are so funny and yet so intense that you can't believe them -- it's storytelling at the highest level, and the actors are amazing. (This is the first NYC gangster movie where parking problems are included in the plot.)
Anora was written and directed by Sean Baker, an indie filmmaker who won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for this movie last year. Mikey Madison, until now a minor movie and TV actress, blazes as the titular character, giving an amazing, complicated performance -- and creates one of the most memorable endings I've ever seen in a movie. The rest of the cast is mostly unknown and Russian but really good.
Please, please see Anora -- it's the kind of movie that makes you laugh, cry, love NYC, despair about the impunity of wealth but also get inspired by the resilience of some people.
