Anora: A Story of Hope and Class

Thrilling and touching, Anora is a Cinderella story of surprising innocence that crumbles painfully, leaving the class divisions between stripper and oligarch as intact as ever despite a whirlwind of a journey through New York.

Rating: 6.8/10

Highlights

• Captivating performance by Mikey Madison

• Nuanced depiction of a sex worker

• Beautiful lighting and cinematography

Lowlights

• NSFW!

• Vlady's proclaimed love was not convincing

• Would have appreciated getting to know Ani more

Our hero, Ani, is tough as nails — at the age of 23, she knows how to use and woo men at her workplace, a strip club, for money. Meeting Vlady, we see her walls come down with less effort than expected. It takes surprisingly little for Ani to fall for him and believe his clear acts of immaturity. Anora is a story of hope, though ultimately reduced to naivety and crushed by the Zakharovs' quick snub. The film was cinematically alluring and well-shot, the script laced with tension and surprise. I was not only thoroughly entertained but also invested in Ani's future, hopeful for her happy ending, but the film's more realistic finale aligned with reality appropriately, ultimately emphasizing the shackles of class and fallibility of male desire. 

Liked Anora? Check out Zola, a similarly thrilling and well-shot story of a sex worker, replacing the romance of Anora with comedy. 

Watch the trailer!