Film | Anora (2024)

Anora (2024) | Sean Baker | USA

Anora 'Ani' Mikheeva is a young exotic dancer in Brooklin. One day, when the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch comes into the club, asking for a girl who speaks Russian, Anora is the obvious choice. Her grandmother never learned English, and although she's a little embarrassed of her Russian, she can understand Ivan - or Vanya, as he prefers to be called - just fine. He asks her if she ever works out of the club and they start seeing each other. It's still a professional relationship - he pays her for her services very time - but they also hang out, party with his friends and spend time together. Eventually Vanya pays Ani 15000 dollars to be his. girlfriend for a week, and during that week, they fly to Vegas and get married. 

All of these things are in the trailer - which is a little surprising, because they do take up a solid 40 minutes to unfold - but it's only after their marriage that the movie becomes the piece that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. News of the wedding reach Russian, infuriating Vanya's parents - especially his mom, Galina -  and in the time that takes them to fly to the US, they reach out to the boy's godfather, Toros, to straighten him out, get the marriage annulled and get Vanya ready to be shipped back to Russia. 

The real movie starts when a couple of Toros' henchmen, Garnik and Igor get to Vanya's house to establish the truth about these unsettling rumors that the little prince married an American prostitute. Half the time Ani doesn't know what's going on and when Vanya learns that Toros is on his way, he flees the scene unceremoniously leaving his new wife behind. This is the first real moment of surprise in the movie, and the scene doesn't end there. It keeps growing and growing, eventually leading Ani, Toros, Garnik and Igor on a manhunt for Vanya, all over Brooklyn and Brighton beach.