Remember the name Sean Baker. While Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, and Ryan Coogler get a LOT of the buzz as the great directors of their generation, Baker has been quietly rising up the ranks himself, and deserves to be considered among those titans of Hollywood. Anora is his coming out party, giving us the Sean Baker Pretty Woman romcom, a movie so good the French gave it the top prize at their most prestigious film festival. Fairytales all around. Real. Grounded. “Fairytales.”
After an, um, invigorating intro, young 20ish year old Ani (Mikey Madison) is introduced as our lead: a stripper working to make ends meet, living with her sister in Brooklyn. One night, Ani’s ability to speak Russian comes in handy, as Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) requests a hot Russian speaking stripper to throw his endless, son of oligarch money at. He becomes smitten with her, and asks her to be exclusive: the moneymaking jackpot for someone like Ani.
And we’re off on a torrid romance for the ages, thanks to Sean Baker! The talented filmmaker expands his electric style of filmmaking to the bigger budget pretty seamlessly. The whirlwind romance between Ani and Vanya feels exactly that way, as the poor and stuck Ani gets a glimpse into a life she never new existed, with an actually nice guy. Baker’s always viewing this story though our heroine’s eyes, never forgetting what working class heroes brought him to this moment. We spend half the time in the grimy places and abandoned Coney Island hangs with Ani’s normal life, but also see this gorgeous, spectacularly shot rich world, complete with epic drone shots outside a billionaire mansion and incredible Fremont Street Vegas adventures aplenty. You feel as swept away as Ani does, stuck in a party she thinks is never going to end.
But, of course, Russian billionaires can’t get infatuated with American “whores” without the parents eventually noticing. Right after the big climactic Vegas adventure, the story transforms completely as Vanya’s handler Toros (Karren Karagulian) and his two enforcers Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) enter the picture. This is where the Baker magic shines brightest: the audience knows the fantasy is fading away little by little, but it doesn’t matter because this script is just so funny dealing with the consequences of the first hour. Watching Igor and Garnick try to calm down Ani while trying to be respectful as she reigns down expletives on them is pure delight of the highest order, just as Toros leaving the christening he’s in charge of to deal with “the girl” elicits more belly laughs than some of the biggest comedies released this year. You’re laughing a lot at this weird mishmesh of people forced together, growing more and more unhappy…but you’re not forgetting the last part either, as the situation just gets worse and worse for Ani, which you can feel on Mikey Madison’s face. Her performance is amazing, watching her hide all that hurt and sadness under a facade of anger and pure bravado, with a strong assist from the trio of Vanya handlers, especially Yura Burisov, hopefully becoming an international sensation after this one. Baker’s ending makes sense for Anora, and drives home what happens to people like Ani if stuck in the real word and not a fantasy romcom, because let’s face it, for strippers from Brooklyn living with their sister, it’s a long way up the ladder.
But at least it’s a hell of a ride. It’s so funny in 2024 that the greatest romcom of the year can feature multiple uses of the phrase “f*ggot ass bitch,” but alas, here we are. Sean Baker isn’t my wonderful small movie darling anymore, like Mikey Madison’s Ani, they’re all growed up, ready to take on the next big thing…and hopefully get some well deserved American gold sooner rather than later, since they already won the French D’Or.