Sean Baker’s Anora is one of the best films of 2024
There is something unexpected to everything in writer/director Sean Baker’s newest film Anora. Part humanist drama. Part ticking clock anti-thriller. All screwball comedy. At the center of this whirlwind of a film is Mikey Madison in a star-making performance. It’s Baker’s refusal to fit anyone into a stereotype or archetype that makes this a gem of a film that’s sure to be the sleeper hit of the winter.
Ani (Madison) is like any other girl in her twenties. She has dreams of a better life. She hustles to the point of burning out. But she remains cautiously positive. What begins as a transactional relationship with Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) quickly turns into something else. Lines are blurred and before Ani and Vanya know it a trip to Vegas ends with them married. The honeymoon is quickly cut short as word, via social media, of the nuptials gets to Vanya’s Russian Oil Tycoon Father and Mother. Vanya’s handler Toros (Karren Karagulian) with his men Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) are to handle the annulment before their arrival in NYC. However, Toros, Garnick, and Igor come to quickly realize Ani is not letting anyone dictate her life.
This is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, that is the complicated, hilarious, and emotional ride that Anora takes us on. Baker has created a narrative filled with the right balance of humanity, foley, and earned optimism. The tone he sustains throughout the 139-minute run time is the equivalent of a magic trick. One that will have audiences coming back again and again. Their work feels like the modern-day answer to Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. That dizzying display of the unexpected but completely human reactions and interactions. It is no surprise the script took years for Baker to complete as one can see the detailed work put into their writing.
As much as Baker is the reason for the movie’s success its elevation to something truly transcendent is the work of actor Mikey Madison as Ani/Anora. Madison can only be described as a supernova of talent. The way that the actor is able to make everything the script requires of her look easy and natural is stunning. Though to add the fact that no matter what happens during the movie your allegiance is always with her Ani/Anora speaks to the young performer’s natural abilities to pull empathy out of the most delirious of situations. From the opening moments to the heartbreaking final scene, Madison is always the center of this hurricane of a film.
It may be too early to call it but once one sees the movie it is hard to argue that you’ll see a better film in 2024. Anora is the rare film that far exceeds any hype that proceeds it.