It’s hard to talk about a film that has been my most anticipated of the year since it was announced. Sean Baker’s Anora is that film for me, following Starlet, Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket, some of my favourite films of their respective release years. His films often tell stories following those who are typically overlooked in film and by society, as he seeks to explore topics such as relationships between higher and lower income families, inter-generational friendship, and the lives of sex-workers beyond the nature of the work they perform. His latest, Anora, is no different. Starring Mikey Madison in a career-defining role, alongside Mark Eidelstein, Yuriy Borisov, and a group of other comedically brash players, Anora is exactly what I was looking for from Sean Baker’s latest, quickly recognizable as something so much bigger than he has ever made before, while still remaining committed to his roots as an independent filmmaker and perfecting the quality of story and picture we have all come to associate with the name.

Anora follows Mikey Madison as Anora, or Ani as she prefers to go by, who meets Mark Eidelstein’s Vanya when he seeks a stripper who speaks his native tongue Russian. When he proposes a more exclusive working-relationship that begins with Ani staying with Vanya for a week in exchange for $15, 000, their relationship evolves into something much more committed, that Vanya’s parents are anything but supportive of. As tensions grow once Vanya’s parents and their own employees become involved in ending the relationship between the two, Ani must face the truth that Vanya comes from a very different world than she has ever even known.

It could be easy for the story of Ani to feel very foreign to the average viewer. Working as a stripper, engaging in sexual acts for money, all of which may not be the most universal of experiences. But throughout her story, Baker – as he has done before – uses Ani’s story not only to shed a light in film on these typically under-represented groups of people and stories. He also finds a way that makes Ani’s story, and her relationship with Vanya, feel so universal, allowing viewers multiple entry points to relate, in their own ways, to Ani’s life. Exploring the exploitation of the working class by those with exorbitant amounts of money, the transactional nature of relationships, even the relationship between generations and how money and parental figures acts as a safety net for those more well off to run back to when it gets tough, while others, like Ani, must fend for themselves. We find explorations of these topics through every encounter Ani has, allowing us to fully relate to her experience outside of the type of work she is in.

On top of this very specific character of Ani feeling so relatable, Baker’s characters also always feel real. The world and spaces they occupy feel lived in. His realist approach to portraying America, and those often overlooked in film, including older adults, sex workers, and lower-income individuals, feel as though they are literal reflections of the lives that he is portraying in his stories, instead of merely fictional characters. Portrayed with such understanding and respect, Baker is able to craft a story in Ani so completely in tune with the current state of work and relationships in the modern world, while making her story one that is highly adaptable to many viewer’s own experiences, whiel also remaining uber specific and personal to the story of a stripper in New York City.

This is also a testament to actress Mikey Madison, who commands the screen as Ani. She is hilarious in this film, while also remaining so grounded in this role, fully understanding the character she is portraying and her importance on screen. This performance will define her in the years to come, and is already one of the best of the year.

Variety said that Anora makes Pretty Woman (1990) look like a Disney movie. I say that Anora is Pretty Woman, but it just continues telling the story of after the credits of the first have rolled. It explores how the story of Vivian and Edward would exist in an ever more consumeristic world that allows all of us, especially the upper class, to treat our relationships as transactional, with a net of mommy and daddy’s money to hide behind to when the going gets tough. In the new world, where everything in instantaneous, and love and physical affection can be found at the click of a button, how easy is it for those with more resources to leave when pressures descend, rarely thinking twice about the real person at the other end of our decisions. If the credits rolled after Vanya and Ani’s weekend in Vegas, the rose-coloured decision on where to end the film would most definitely not have us thinking about a lot that they would (inevitably) have to deal with once they returned home.

It is hard to say anything about Sean Baker’s Anora that has not already been said. Yes, it is as good as everyone has been saying. Yes, Mikey Madison gives one of the best performances seen on screen in a long time. Yes, it is hilarious, and yes, it will tear your heart out. Looking back through Sean Baker’s filmography, it is clear he has a certain idea about America. How transactional relationships have become, and how the divide between the lower and upper classes has only been growing, resulting in ever more tense relations between the groups. His latest film, Anora, once again brings these ideas (and much more) to the big screen, highlighting the often underrepresented in film lives of sex workers and the working class, in a stunning feat that has already gone down as his biggest and boldest yet.

Anora was screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Anora will be released in select theatres in Canada on October 25, 2024. Image courtesy of TIFF.