VIFF 2024 | 'Anora' Romances A Twisted Fairytale

"I got dollar signs like a real ho."

Vancouver International Film Festival

VIFF 2024—Acclaimed, Palme d'Or-winning independent filmmaker Sean Baker makes his so-called "socially real" version of the sex worker Cinderella fairytale one might lazily describe as a contemporary riff on Pretty Woman meets something like Uncut Gems. Anora showcases an exhilarating depiction of the whirlwind nature of a twisted romance.

Starring rising starlet Mikey Madison as the eponymous Brooklyn sex worker and Mark Eidelstein as her hard-partying Prince Charming riff of a son of a Russian oligarch suitor, Anora unfolds how you might expect Baker to tell a sex work drama based on his well-done filmography of compassionate character pieces about underrepresented people living on the margins of society.

His film truly foregrounds Madison's stunningly naturalistic performance through the good and rough times. Anora feels like the director's most polished and assured cinematic effort yet with a stark focus on the story he wants to tell.

Neon / Elevation Pictures

There's a clear empathy for character types we tend to look down on, from escorts and strippers to gangsters or hired henchmen, which further enhances a compassionate sense of emotional storytelling. His fascination with the process of work and menial tasks involved in doing any job well continues to show itself in how he frames his characters.

Baker further succeeds in telling darkly uplifting tales that are both hopeful yet sorrowful in their conceptions of authentic human experiences. It's one of his most purely entertaining films as it maintains his usual grounded aesthetic featuring many unknown or non-actors in realistic settings heightened by over-dramatic situations. Madison is a star in a fearless performance that's just as screwball comical as it is sad.

Anora screened at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations series at the Vancouver Playhouse.


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