Movie Review: Anora Gives Feels Like A Classic

HILARIOUS! Watching Anora, felt like I was watching those really good 80s/90s movies that pop up randomly in your channel stream. You know what I mean? You look up an Moonstruck is playing, and your like, ¨Hey, Cher. My mom loved her!¨ Those movies always fascinate me because they make me feel like I am casually entering the chaotic humanity of somebody I know. Mikey Madison is Anora, and God you will love her crazy ass.

Mikey makes Anora so human. She is wild, smart, and dumb, all at once. Kind, generous, and bitter at the very same time. Lost and so lucid, but trapped in a world that can make either feel useless. As a stripper in BK, Anora makes good money, especially for a 23 year old, whose lavish style is strictly saved for the men willing to pay for it. In comes Vanya/ Ivan, played SO WELL by Mark Eidelshtein. Let me tell you something about my crazy life. I have dated the Vanya’s of this world; back in the day when I too confused 23 and Me for 23 and stupid. It was as if my DNA was to be charmed by people who felt freer than me, in part, because they were richer. Sure, Anora is using Ivan, of which this film really does breathe according to how naturally deranged he makes this demented, rich kid from Russia. While Anora may not love him, you understand why she is open to being in love with him: he’s sweet, silly, and so rich he’s safe, and that last part, security, she has never known. 

Married on all expenses paid, Vegas trip, Anora thinks she is set. Bye Bye, Stripper Poles! Hello, Private Jets! Here is the problem. Vanya is about as strong as a newborn infant, in every way. The minute his funds, aka his parents, find out he got married to an escort on a weekend to Nevada, they are READY to fly from Russia, scold him into a divorce, and bring him back to start work. Here the movies takes a super funny and surprisingly sweet turn. Often, Russians are painted as terrorists or Putin´s bad boys, and, instead, Ivan’s guards Karren Karagullian´s Toros, Vache Tovmasyan´s Garnick, Yura Borisov superbly endearing Igor are just regular guys. They all immigrated to this country for peace, and instead became his baby-sitter. Hence, hey are stressed, humorous, and torn between their compassion for Anora and the frustration at her delusion to believe one of the most powerful families in Russia is going to either A) accept her or B) not hurt her if she does not disappear from their lives.

Ultimately, Sean Baker’s film is an absolute delight, and a goofy, fun emblem of how, in some ways, we are all the goons to the rich: chess pieces to their weekend whims and games. Our fantasy to live the luxe, privileged  life helps us ignore things that stem from it like, Ivan’s stunted baby behavior or Diddy’s downfall. Yet, this film lives off of Mikey´s stellar, natural performance, as a young woman who realizes she is not living her best life, but also realizes no one ever gets the money to do so. Anora comes out October 18.