One word accurately describes “Anora’s” past few months — buzz. Sean Baker’s latest film premiered at Cannes Film Festival last May, receiving immediate acclaim and taking home the top prize: the Palme d’Or. Since then, “Anora” screened at a handful of other festivals, including Toronto International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.
At each, the song remained the same.
When I went to see “Anora” in Century City on its limited opening weekend, a packed house turned out with me. The same can likely be said for all of the six theaters across the country that hosted the film in its limited opening weekend. Following months of constant fanfare, audiences — $540,000 worth of them — needed to see what the excitement was about.
Deadline reports that “Anora” grossed roughly $540,000 last weekend in a limited release of only six theaters in the US. This gives “Anora” a per-theater average (PTA) of around $90,000 — the second highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” bested this number, raking in roughly $853,000 across six theaters in 2023. One has to go all the way back to 2016 to find a stronger PTA, when Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” made $881,000 across only five theaters.
All three of these films carry with them a certain amount of buzz, largely aided by the fact that they’re helmed by auteurs. Like “Anora,” “Asteroid City” premiered at Cannes, while “La La Land” debuted at Venice International Film Festival. “Anora” also benefits from a festival rollout strategy, generating acclaim at Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival, among others, before screening to the public.
Neon, “Anora’s” US distributor, has a strong track record when it comes to Cannes and the Academy. Neon distributed the past five Palme d’Or winners in the US. Before “Anora,” three of the other four went on to receive Best Picture nominations, with “Parasite” going on to win. Prior to Neon’s run starting in 2019, the latest Palme d’Or winner to receive a Best Picture nomination was 2012′s “Amour.”
I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly saw something worthy of an Oscar that night.
To date, only a single film written/directed by Baker has received a nomination at the Academy Awards — “The Florida Project,” which received a lone Best Supporting Actor nod for Willem Dafoe in 2018. As someone deeply engaged in the Oscars and awards season every year, I simply do not see a world in which that doesn’t change with the 2025 ceremony.
Anora (Mikey Madison) works at a Brooklyn strip club. Here, like everywhere else, she simply goes by “Ani.” Names aren’t something she claims to place much value in, but she likes that one enough. One night, Ani meets her match in Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). Ivan also goes by “Vanya,” but he doesn’t seem to place much value in one name over the other. Really, he doesn’t seem to place much value in anything.
As her club’s only Russian speaker, Ani finds herself automatically assigned to Ivan, whose wealth shows no limits. Eventually, Ivan says he wants more than a single night at a club with Ani. She puts her number in Ivan’s phone so the two can meet again.
Perhaps the night was best left alone.
The time between Ani and Ivan begins to stretch. At first, she simply charges him for sex and leaves when they are done. On another visit, Ani tells Ivan she can stay a bit longer (he wasn’t nearly using the full hour he paid for). Soon, the two make a deal to spend an entire week together — Ani “pretends” to be his girlfriend, and Ivan pays her $10,000.
Madison anchors “Anora” with a powerhouse performance. Madison’s portrayal projects toughness and demands compassion. Rarely does a moment pass without Madison on-screen, calling on her to carry both the romance and anxiety that fuels “Anora.” She proves more than up to the task.
Ani finds herself sucked into what feels like a fairy tale romance. After all, Ivan is the son of a Russian oligarch. Throughout the week, he wows her with parties, drinks, trips, mansions and more. Why can’t he be Ani’s Prince Charming?
Well, there are a few reasons. To call Ivan “immature” would be an understatement. With every peek into his pampered life, it becomes more clear that he knows nothing of the real world. Ivan requires a moment to remember where he can find water in his kitchen. He treats sex as a game of speed, hopping on his Xbox immediately after. When Ani guesses his age, he agrees that 21 sounds correct.
When Ivan proposes marriage — the two lying in bed after another round of hotel sex — Ani allows herself to say yes. There’s plenty of dramatic irony to this rapid romance, with the audience surely aware that many shoes wait to drop.
Yet Baker never shames Ani for her decisions; shame has never been his register. Over the years, Baker has made a name for himself for his depiction of marginalized communities, particularly through his normalization of sex work. 2015′s “Tangerine,” shot entirely on a series of iPhones, follows a transgender sex worker who, after getting released from jail, discovers she’s been cheated on by her pimp boyfriend.
Ani lives in a world of transactions. In a moment of naivety, she allows herself to believe Ivan represents something different. After all, Ani wants her fairy tale ending — as a child, she dreamed of going to Disney World with her future husband. Baker has used the Disney brand as a brutal symbol before. In “The Florida Project,” Disney World stands as a place of false magic and childlike fantasy lying out of reach.
Ani soon learns the fragility of this fantasy. When rumors of the marriage spread, Toros (Karren Karagulian), an associate of Ivan’s parents, sends henchmen Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) to Ivan’s mansion. Once Garnick confirms the news, Toros receives his orders: Annul the marriage and prepare Ivan to return to Russia the next day.
What follows is, simply put, one of the greatest sequences of the year. Reality comes crashing down on Ani as Garnick and Igor invade Ivan’s home. The two try to restrain Ani and capture Ivan, who almost immediately flees the scene. Toros, meanwhile, speeds through traffic to reach the house in time, yelling at his goons over speakerphone.
The entirety of “Anora” sees Baker operating at a grander scale than ever before. In this film, the creator stays true to his perspective and sensibilities while notably expanding his scope. Baker creates a film bigger and perhaps broader than his other work in “Anora,” yet he stays true to what has made him such a compelling filmmaker.
The crashing down of Ani and Ivan’s romance exemplifies Baker’s expansion. This sequence alone, around 20 minutes in length, earns the filmmaker a Palme d’Or. Baker masterfully directs this scene, a frenetic collision of these five characters. Notably, the writer/director also edited “Anora” himself. Here, he shows off this skill through high-tension cutting between the scene’s various players. Every move is perfectly calculated to deliver both the most laughs and anxiety possible. This scene just might be Baker’s masterpiece.
With Ivan now in the wind, the stakes of “Anora” change considerably. What started as a fairy tale romance becomes a mad dash through the city as Ani and Ivan’s men scour the streets of New York for her missing husband. Structurally, it resembles a piece like “Into the Woods,” showing what comes for Ani after she’s gotten her happily ever after. This shifts the film’s tone from a rom-com to a high-strung comedy of errors. The laughs keep coming, but Baker rarely lets up on the anxiety.
At this point, the film elevates from something good to something truly great, largely as a result of the ensemble at play. Ani’s interactions with the three men, all of whom lie somewhere between captor and bodyguard, consistently ease the stress on the pressure cooker of their quest. This group of four — and Eydelshteyn’s performance as Ivan — makes a compelling case for an award like SAG’s Best Ensemble prize. If only the Academy Award for Best Casting was launched this year instead of next.
It doesn’t take long to realize that both Baker and Madison are at the top of their game in “Anora,” but the film finds a powerful secret weapon in Yura Borisov as Igor. In a film full of loud performances, Borisov contrasts by lying in wait. Nearly as soon as he enters the screen, Igor draws the ire of Ani, perhaps more than any other character in the film; yet Igor shares no animosity. A hired hand, Igor admires and empathizes with the titular bride while knowing better than to speak out of turn. Igor seems to always have something to say — I don’t know that we ever get to hear any of it.
Borisov portrays this turmoil quietly and beautifully. He speaks far less than most characters in the film, yet his presence in every scene makes a statement. At times, it feels impossible to look away from his minute actions in the background. To miss a moment of his physicality means as much as missing dialogue. I hope for an acting nomination for Borisov nearly as much as I do for Madison.
As “Anora” reaches its conclusion, this duo takes over to deliver the film’s final impactful moments. Ani returns home with the ever-present Igor in tow, having completed her anxiety-inducing odyssey that resembles the constant tension of “Uncut Gems.” Yet “Uncut Gems” has the decency to put its main character out to pasture; in “Anora,” Ani must live to see tomorrow.
Despite the laughs and thrills of “Anora,” Baker makes the audience stew in reality for his opus’ final moments. It’s a distinct departure from some of the creator’s most recent films. Both “The Florida Project” and “Red Rocket” end in fantasy sequences, pulling audiences away from the real world to see things from the perspective of the lead characters. “Anora” ends in the perspective of its lead as well — Ani just doesn’t have any fantasizing left in her.
What Baker, Madison and Borisov pull off in the film’s final moments is nothing short of a miracle. I watched among a packed crowd, one that laughed and reacted uproariously for the first two hours of a fairy tale gone wrong. As the credits began to roll after “Anora’s” raw, difficult ending, that same audience sat in stunned silence.
Best Picture indeed.