Firstly I want say it was refreshing to watch a story that was told in a straightforward, linear timeline for a change. Set in a fairly modern day New York, the look of this drama could be from anytime in the last forty years and it's only the use of quite recent smartphones in some scenes that place it firmly in the last decade. Anora "Ani" Mikheeva (Madison) is an exotic pole dancer and happy hooker in an upscale strip joint. Although only young, she is pretty confident, dedicated to her job and popular amongst her fellow workers there.
As the only Russian-speaking dancer, one night, her boss comes into the dressing room to ask her to "Entertain" a party of young Russians men flashing the cash out front. She duly complies and pulls out all her charms to give Vanya, (Mark Eydelshteyn) and his pals a good night. Things go well and as the night draws on, Vanya invites her back to his uptown palatial pad to spend the night. Things get even better in the morning when he says he'll pay for her to spend the entire week with him. For her, it's ($)kerching($) time as this sort of money will make her boss happy.
Later that week, as the couple are getting on very well, Vanya springs the jaw-dropping surprise of asking Ani if they'd like to get married in Vegas. After asking him multiple times if he really means it, they jump right in, soon after arriving in Nevada, and get hitched. The young couple are on cloud 9 and return to his New York residence to continue their celebrations. However, news of this whirlwind marriage has gotten back to his no-nonsense Oligarch parents and they fly in on their Learjet from Russia to immediately try to annul the wedding. Soon enough, Vanya's father's associates are banging on his front door!
Now this 2h 19m film does have an 18 certificate for good reasons. The many sex scenes are pretty graphic and I can imagine that the much talked-about "Home Invasion" scene could be quite traumatic for some to watch. However, the second half of the film could almost be viewed as a comedy as these fairly inept associates that include Igor (Yuriy Borisov), a young bodyguard. He starts to feel empathy with Ani's predicament as she's dragged along when they go knocking on various doors all over town trying to find the now, runaway groom.
This simple tale reminds me of TV movies I've watched in the late 20th Century, but it is well shot and deserves to be seen on the big screen. The remaining cast's performances are all believably solid - but Mickey's really does stand out, as Ani tries to deal with the terrible situation she's found herself in, in a brave and forthright manner. She holds her own on-screen with the older ruthless characters brilliantly, so I think it's definitely a well deserved BAFTA & Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Sean Baker got Best Director and he also wrote and produced it. To top it all, Anora also won Best Picture. Incredible for a film with just a reported budget of around $6,000,000.
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