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It’s interesting to see how Sean Baker’s artistry has evolved. His heart has always remained within the realm of low-budget filmmaking, continuously telling stories with an empathetic point of view for people often looked down upon by the world around them. I’ve always found him an exciting experimenter for that reason. It’s also part of what makes Anora so endearing.

Nicknamed “Ani,” Anora (Mikey Madison) is an Russian-American stripper who specializes with Russian-speaking customers, and seems to have found a lucky break through meeting Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn). Vanya is the son of a Russian oligarch, and being a part of his life seems like a dream come true for Anora. The pair do eventually fall in love and get married, but Vanya’s family objects, believing marrying a sex worker would hurt the family name, and insisting the relationship was never genuine.

Baker shows so much love to Anora’s youthful spirit, capturing her happiest moments alongside her naivete. It’s all so dreamlike until the film’s sudden—and incredibly effective—shift in tone. Mikey Madison, in what’s without doubt a career-defining performance, captures a wide range of emotions, from unparalleled happiness to stark sadness, with relative ease.

Most of Baker’s films examine the living conditions of the working class. In Anora, he’s reached a much more ambitious point, indulging in the materialistic life of Vanya versus the mostly unpleasant world Anora knows. He thoughtfully captures her thinking that she might just have everything a young girl like her could want, at the same time bringing forth the devastating idea that her search for a true sense of love might’ve been exploiting her in turn.

And yet the film is still so consistently funny. Baker’s kept in tune with the way young people of the present talk, as well as how they interact with one another on social media. It makes for some of the film’s funniest moments, especially after Vanya’s family intrude Anora’s dream life and then try to take it away in an instant. This is a film built in part upon fun: it questions how older generations don’t understand younger people, what makes them happy, how they’re feeling. Its use of humour also doubles as class commentary. You get a feel for how the restrictive social expectations of the upper class can in turn make young people feel trapped.

But all the funny moments in the film ramp up towards a greater anxiety, building up the way a thriller would. It’s especially clear in moments where we see Anora’s fantasy shattering. And yet she’s also painted with such humanity and warmth while she slowly makes sense of her reality, and her relationship with Vanya. Her happiness becomes your own, as does her sadness.

Anora captures that youthfulness a bit too well, to the point that it feels painful. But that’s always been what makes Sean Baker one of today’s most exciting filmmakers. His work comes from a love for those often belittled by conservative social norms, and through his determination to detail the many ups and downs they experience, he makes it clear they’re not all that different from humankind we’ve encountered up close.

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Watch the trailer right here.

All images via NEON.

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Directed by Sean Baker
Screenplay by Sean Baker
Produced by Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, Sean Baker
Starring Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov
Premiere Date: May 21, 2024
Running Time: 139 minutes