Synopsis
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, impulsively meets and marries the son of an oligarch
Once news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as her parents head to New York to have the marriage annulled. Mikey Madison reflects on the roles that shaped his path to Anora, from “Better Things” and “Better Things.” to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and Scream.
Referenced in Close-Up: Anora (2024)
At the Cannes Film Festival press conference, Mikey Madison said that director Sean Baker would act out different sex positions with his wife, producer Samantha Quan, to show the actors what he wanted them to do. Unpredictability can be a wonderful cinematic tool, and the greatest can sometimes use it like a magic wand.
The first half is more dramatic, dealing with the relationship between two unlikeable characters, Mikey Madison’s sly stripper and spoiled rich kid Mark Eydelshteyn
But the flow of a movie also plays a role, and while Sean Baker’s latest “Anora” is a series of movies, it is a series of movies. does indeed veer into some severe right turns in the story, it’s the disconcerting lack of a single, coherent vision that makes this outing a car crash.
Things eventually go awry, and the movie turns into an unfunny episode of The Three Stooges that feels about as welcome as a turd in a swimming pool
(Seamlessly blending genres for maximum satisfaction is not this film’s strong suit.) Not that Baker’s formulaic direction, even at the beginning, is anything to write home about (nor is his dark, unnatural, and unwelcome ending), but with such gems as “Tangerine” and “The Florida Project” under his belt, I was hopeful. (That film won the Palme d’Or and sits alongside the likes of “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” “Barton Fink,” “Wild At Heart” and “Pulp Fiction.”) “No Luck – Anora” The film’s fairy tale feels more like a cinematic nightmare.