Anora

Anora
A young stripper from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
rg9400 reviewedDecember 21, 2024
Anora is a tour de force acting showcase for her, instantly propelling yet another Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Manson Family actor to soaring heights. The movie starts out with a frenetic pace, a sex-infused blitz through a week in Ani's life with Mark Eidelstein's Ivan. This part of the movie is visually engaging, though I preferred the second half. Here, the story slows down significantly and allows Madison's acting to truly shine. It's also where the comedy starts to burst through, with many laugh-out-loud moments that rival most modern comedies. Throughout, you can see how desperately she tries to fight and claw, even physically, for a chance to hold onto her Cinderella dream and in her belief in her own self-worth. As a viewer, we know where everything is headed; the movie makes no attempts to hide how it views its characters, yet it is fascinating to watch how much each of the characters try to resist the inevitable. Mikey's fiery acting demands all your attention, but it is excellently supported by Yura Borisov's quiet acting, managing to say so much without any words. The movie's structure feels decidedly unconventional, starting with a spiral, slowing down, before it ends with a screeching halt in what feels like a very un-Hollywood ending. The end result might initially feel anticlimactic, but this character study will linger in your mind, no small part due to that striking final image. Mikey has earned her laurels.