Member-only story
Can’t Love in ‘Anora’ [Movie Review]
Anora is something special. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year.
By Jon Ochiai
I finally saw Anora on Amazon Prime. Writer and Director Sean Baker’s Anora is a brilliant narrative mess populated by idiots. Still, that being said, Mikey Madison is so raw and brave as Ani or Anora, the Russian American lap dancer who marries Ivan, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, the entitled useless son on wealthy Russian arms dealer Nikolai Zakharov, played by Aleksey Serebryakov.
Anora is the modern-day version of Pretty Woman, but without love. It’s the Pretty Woman of this Multiverse. Contrary to popular consensus, there’s no great love story in Anora. Well, at least from where I watched. Still, Anora is a great movie.
Ani is a star lap dancer at a strip club. Being fluent in Russian, Ani’s boss connects her with his customer, 21-year-old Russian Ivan. 23-year-old Ani gives Ivan the lap dance and rocks his young world. Smitten Ivan invites Ani to his luxury crib where he will pay her to have sex with him. Ivan loves having sex with Ani nearly as much as playing video games on his Xbox. Clearly, Ivan is not in love with Ani. Predictably, Ani is seduced by Ivan’s money and bling lifestyle. He’s Ani’s Prince Charming, well sort of. She believes that he can rescue her…