Anora

Released: May 21, 2024

Studio: Film Nation Entertainment, Cre Film

Genre: romantic drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 15.43 Worldwide: 34.95

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: Sean Baker

Screenwriting: Sean Baker

Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryako

Review:

Anora is a romantic drama produced, written, directed, and edited by Sean Baker. He said the movie was inspired by “a story from a friend about a Russian-American newlywed who was kidnapped for collateral.” ^WK He also used his own experience editing wedding videos from 2000-01, including some of Russian-Americans in New York. ^WK

The title character (Madison) is a New York sex worker who meets Vanya (Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. After he pays her for several sexual encounters, he impulsively asks her to marry him and they elope in Vegas. His family is then determined to have the marriage annulled.

“The film’s pace is frenetic” ^KM which “might overwhelm some people” ^KM but Anora is “a must-watch for cinema fans worldwide.” ^KM Baker knows how “to tell stories that feel real” and in Anora, “his most important film to date,” ^KM he does that with a “story filled with memorable characters and a main performance that is just magical.” ^KM

The movie premiered at Cannes on May 21 where it won the Palme d’Or. It was released theatrically on October 18.