Her name is Anora but everyone calls her Ani. She’s fluent in Russian but prefers to speak English. She dances at a strip club, which means she’s emphatically not a sex worker, even if she occasionally moonlights as one on the side. Ani, it’s clear, is smarter and tougher than she lets on to her clients. But the woman’s a mess; she’s compromised and conflicted. Probably the world around her is too.
Anora, the brilliant new picture from American writer-director Sean Baker, is a screwball Cinderella tale – frenetic and funny, fiery and profane. While Baker has already won plaudits for his previous work (Tangerine, The Florida Project, 2021’s Red Rocket), this boisterous New York caper vaults him towards greatness. Anora combines instinctual deft handling of its volatile subject matter with a jubilant, swing-for-the-fences ambition. But the film’s a joint triumph and shares the spoils with its star. Cast in the title role, 25-year-old Mikey Madison gives a performance for the ages. She rustles up a flawed, fearsome heroine who’s as gorgeous and grubby as life.
