Anora

Language : English / Russian / Armenian

Year of release : 2024

Run time : 2h19m

Genre : Drama / Dark Comedy

The movie is written,directed,edited and produced by Sean Baker.

Anora is a 23 year old stripper who lives in the Russian-American neighborhood of Brooklyn. She hates the name Anora and she likes to be called Annie. Because she knows Russian, her boss introduces her one night to the son of a Russian oligarch.

Ivan, by his name, likes her so much he starts asking her for private sessions, and because things go well, he hires her for one week, and pays her 15.000 dollars.

They party the whole week, get drunk, get high, play video games, and have s3x.

Ivan asks her to marry him, as he wants to stay in the USA, as his parents want him to go back to Russia after he finishes his studies in the country. So they get married in Las Vegas, so he'd get a VISA.

His parents find out about it, and send their men to get them and annul the marriage. Ivan, being a real man, runs away and stops answering their calls, while Anora is left behind, and gets tied up as she fights the men (breaking one's nose) . Their boss, Toros, proposes a deal, to calm her down, telling her they'll give her 10.000 dollars if she agrees to sign the divorce papers.

She agrees to this, so they'd untie her, and they start looking for Ivan through the city, as he won't answer his phone.

The whole time she believes she can persuade them to let them stay married, and thinks Ivan (who ran away,leaving her behind) will fight for her. She might have a rude awakening, as this isn't Pretty Woman.

 

The movie kinda bored me, I found it too long and uninteresting, and I honestly don't see why it won so many awards,but then again, I never liked movies praised by critics and awards shows.

The characters had no debt,they had no meaningful conversations. I don't even know if they knew much about each other, it was definitely not a love story, because I didn't see anything like that,just a transaction. At the end of the movie the leads were still unknown.

Annie comes off as entitled, although she has nothing to show for. I found it sad she doesn't know how to have a real relationship with a man, she only knows the s3x language. She gets upset people call her a prostitute,but that's exactly what she is, and she proves it, once again, when she has s3x, at the end of the movie with the guy who likes her, instead of starting the relationship normally with him,by just going out to a movie or whatever,and getting to know each other first!

Ivan is a weak,pathetic little man.

Ivan's mother is the head of the family, as this is the new age of Hollywood movies.

Also, I felt no love between the two leads who live a boring life of parties, drugs and video games.

The actors were good.

The soundtrack was good.

Viewer discretion is advised, as the movie contains nudity.

 

The movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it received the Palme D'Or; it also received 2 BAFTA awards,including one for Best Actress for Mickey Madison; 5 Oscars, including Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, while Russian actor Yura Borisov was nominated for an Oscar.

The movie grossed 42 million dollars worldwide, against a 6 million dollars budget.

Anora is at the cinemas across the world and is for rent/ sale on Amazon, Apple, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Could have been a contender !