#TIFF24 Review: Anora (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado

The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5th to 15th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.

After breaking out with his iPhone-shot Tangerine, Sean Baker has become one of our best modern filmmakers, gifting us exceptional, singular works like The Florida Project and Red Rocket. Now Baker returns with Anora, which could be called his “biggest” movie yet (and the first to win him the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes), while still carrying on his themes of compassionately exploring the inner-lives of sex workers and the “forgotten people” of America.

The film is named for Anora (Mikey Madison), a working class stripper from Brooklyn, who prefers to go by Ani. When she gets a special request from Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian billionaire who wants someone who can speak Russian to him at the club, Ani’s world begins to open up. Vanya is a rich and charming man-child who lives like a prince. He brings Ani into his world of big houses and endless parties, asking her to be “exclusive” with him for a week, in exchange for fifteen grand.

The film starts off as Baker doing his own version of Pretty Woman, before sort of turning that on its head. The madcap midsection harkens back to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, or a more contemporary counterpart like Uncut Gems, as Baker embraces a similar sort of one-crazy-night energy. Throughout it all, Baker shows a masterful control of tone, including rises and falls in euphoria over the course of the film, as it veers from romantic, to darkly funny, to sort of tragic.

Through its story of a scrappy exotic dancer being brought into the billionaire class, Baker is able to build on the subtle class commentary of his previous works. In the background, we see the maids and housekeepers who are left to clean up Vanya’s messes. Baker embraces the gritty aesthetic of a 1970s movie, including through the glorious widescreen 35mm cinematography by Drew Daniels. In keeping with this theme, he also explicitly pushes back on the sexless repression of most modern movies (this is a movie made for mature audiences).

Madison captivates right from the opening sequence, which pans over a series of strippers performing lap dances, before settling on her titular character. It’s a real star-is-born moment for the actress, as her name and the film’s title comes on screen, while the club music pulsates in the background. Madison brings a real working-class energy to Anora, who can swear a blue streak, but she also adds a sort of bittersweetness to her portrayal; her Ani is still just a girl who falls in love.

Eydelshteyn’s inspired supporting performance as Vanya allows him to show off a genuine gift for physical comedy, imbuing his character with a goofy, endearing quality that is crucial for the bond between him and Ani to be believable. Yuriy Borisov’s henchman Igor is in many ways the heart of the film, while Baker regular Karren Karagulian gets one of his meatiest roles.

When Greta Gerwig’s jury awarded Anora the Palme d’Or earlier this year, it felt like a watershed moment that fully established Baker as being at the forefront of modern cinema. We can sense it while watching the film, which feels like him taking us on a ride in the best possible way, as he builds to an ending that is strangely moving in its own right. It’s just about the movie of the year.

Film Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)