Director: Sean Baker
Screenplay: Sean Baker
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan and Aleksei Serebryakov
Country: United States
Running Time: 139 min
Year: 2024
Last year was a fantastic year for film, but early into the year, while everybody was waiting patiently for the big tentpole pictures, there was one film I couldn’t wait to see – Sean Baker’s Anora. After his recent string of features, Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket, I’d been craving whatever Baker was cooking up next and as soon as the film was announced, it lingered on my Letterboxd watchlist. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, taking home the festival’s highest prize, the Palme d’Or which only made me all the more excited to see it when it got its general release in early November.
On my initial viewing, I adored the film and it even made my best of the year list for Blueprint: Review, where I ranked it #2. Since then, I’ve revisited the film a handful of times, watching it with friends and seeing them go through the range of emotions that most do with the film (tons of laughter before the tears begin flowing) and when I heard that Criterion had nabbed the home media rights to the film, I was beyond excited to cover it for the site so I could gush about the film some more and check out the bonus features.
The film follows Ani, a stripper as she ends up meeting a wealthy customer, Ivan and after a handful of encounters outside of Ani’s local strip club, Ivan pays her money to be his girlfriend for a week before proposing to her. Like many of Sean Baker’s films, it offers a unique perspective into the world of sex work without demoralising it. It’s clear that this world fascinates Baker and while there’s many detractors to the way that he portrays it, I’ve never found much of an issue with his human approach to it in films like Tangerine, The Florida Project, Red Rocket and of course, Anora.
Shot on 35mm for a ridiculously low budget of $6 million, the film looks absolutely stunning. Shot by DoP Drew Daniels (Red Rocket, Krisha, Waves), Anora feels like a throwback to 70s films that highlighted a rough but realistic portrayal of nightlife in New York City, and similar to Red Rocket, has a particularly fun series of pop needle drops that shouldn’t work but they do. In Red Rocket, NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye is utilised numerous times throughout the film and with Anora, it’s a remix of the Take That song Greatest Day. The way that Baker uses Greatest Day in a few key scenes in Anora feels tongue-in-cheek, sure, but it’s equally sincere too.
Performances across the board are magnificent, with Mikey Madison (in an Academy Award winning role) being the clear highlight as Ani. She’s bold, brash, hilarious and speaks her mind in ways that are always entertaining. Ivan’s a fascinating character, immature in many ways but impossible to look away from as he poorly plays video games, engages in a life of excess and acts like the worst spoiled brat you’ve ever seen. Supporting characters like Igor, Toros and Garnik are brilliant too, joining the picture as Baker subverts audience expectations halfway through with a great genre change. It’s something I don’t want to completely spoil, as one of my favourite elements of a first time watch of Anora is the unpredictable nature of the events that transpire.
When the film reaches the last act, it goes from one of the funniest films of 2024 to one of the most heartbreaking, and again, I’m going to keep it as spoiler free as possible but aside from Better Man, there’s no other film from 2024 that continues to make me tear up during its climactic scene like Anora does. For my money, it’s Baker’s best ending (although some might be inclined to mention The Florida Project, which is a close second) as it conveys so many emotions and feelings without a single word of dialogue needed. Those who have seen the film will know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s incredible stuff.
Anora’s one of the rare films that both worked for audiences, critics and even The Academy, as it ended up taking home five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, on top of winning the Palme d’Or. It’s something that I truly believe will stand the test of time, which is hard to say for a lot of contemporary cinema. Baker’s commitment to crafting fun, unique cinema that blends humour, romance and drama in equal shades is something that I’ll always be on board for. Whenever his next project is announced, I will be seated on day one, just like I was for Anora. If you haven’t seen Anora yet, it’s a must-watch for fans of Baker’s work. It’s funny, it’s entertaining, it’s well-made in every regard and stands as one of 2024’s greatest films.
Film: 
Anora released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection on May 5th. I was sent copies of the 4K UHD release to view the film and the Blu-ray discs to check out the special features. The native 4K transfer is as close to perfection as one could hope from a modern release. Given that Anora was shot on 35mm, there’s ridiculous amounts of detail that shine on UHD, especially with the HDR grade. There’s no Dolby Vision here, which may disappoint some, but the standard HDR grade still shines through and helps during some of the nighttime sequences in the film. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track sounds fantastic too, making every scene with a dynamic sound mix, such as the club sequences sound as great as they did at the cinema. It’s great to finally have a Sean Baker film on UHD and it results in one of the best looking 4K discs from Criterion in recent memory, which is saying something! Optional English subtitles are also included. The following extras are included:
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital master, supervised by director Sean Baker and producer Alex Coco, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
Two audio commentaries: one featuring Baker, Coco, producer Samantha Quan, and cinematographer Drew Daniels, and the other featuring Baker and actors Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan
New making-of documentary
New interviews with Baker and Madison
Cannes Film Festival press conference
Q&A with Madison and actor-stripper Lindsey Normington
Deleted scenes
Audition footage
Trailers
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
PLUS: Essays by film critic Dennis Lim and author Kier-La Janisse
New cover by Bianca Parkes and GrandSon, with photography by Max Abadian
The two audio commentaries included on the release are both great listens. First up is a track with Baker, Coco, producer Samantha Quan, and cinematographer Drew Daniels, giving a technical breakdown of Anora in all of the ways that you’d hope for. This is the type of track that is essentially a 140 minute film school, and it’s an essential listen for those fascinated by how Baker and his team made such a visually stunning, large scale film for $6 million. The second track, featuring Baker, Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan is more laid-back, while still offering plenty of behind-the-scenes information that you’d come to expect from a packed commentary track like this. All in all, it’s a nice pair of commentaries that are worth your time if you’re a fan of the film.
Anora: Stripped Down is a feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary on the film, running for 67 minutes and recorded entirely on the phones of the film’s crew. It’s a great watch, highlighting every element of the production that one could hope for in a fly-on-the-wall piece like this. One of the best extras I’ve seen on a Criterion release in a while, make sure you check this one out.
Two interviews are included on the disc too, with director Sean Baker and another with Baker and actor Mikey Madison. The interview with Sean Baker runs for 9 and a half minutes and features the director detailing how he assembled his cast, deciding on Mikey Madison after seeing her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream, the research he made into the world of sex work in order to make the film feel authentic, the influences and more. The interview with Baker and Madison runs for 13 minutes and features the pair discussing the film’s opening. Baker shot over thirty minutes of footage that was cut down into around two or three minutes, and this interview highlights Madison’s process behind the unscripted nature of that sequence. There’s also detail into the accent work that Madison did for Anora, and hearing the pair talk about it was delightful. Both interviews are absolutely worth your time.
The Cannes Film Festival press conference is another excellent extra, featuring all of the key members of the cast and crew right after the world premiere of Anora at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Running for 41 minutes, the panel of seven dive into the production, talk about the influences and approach to creating Anora. There’s some fun stories about auditions, the unintentional influence that Pretty Woman had on the film, the writing process and more. It’s a solid watch.
The Q&A with Madison and Lindsey Normington runs for 35 minutes and features an introduction with the pair, describing sex work and their love for Baker’s portrayal of sex workers in his films, their thoughts on the ending, the rivalry that the pair have in the film and how Normington’s work as a sex worker helped influence her performance. The Q&A takes place at a screening for sex workers and when it kicks off, it’s an equally great watch, with an enthusiastic audience throughout. Madison discusses the process of learning how to dance authentically for the film, while Normington talks about the music that influenced her during the production. It’s a fun Q&A that’s absolutely worth watching.
Seven minutes of deleted scenes are included, featuring more footage from the opening club sequence, an introduction to the character of Crystal, a scene with Vanya smoking weed, some unused footage during the party segments with Ani and Vanya and more. It’s a great selection of short vignettes that add some fun, small character moments. It’s understandable why they were trimmed from the final cut, but it’s great to see them regardless.
15 minutes of audition footage with Darya Ekamasova, Vlad Mamai, Luna Sofia Miranda, Lindsey Normington, Vincent Radwinsky, Vache Tovmasyan and Ivy Wolk is included. The quality differs between each audition, most of which were shot on mobile phones but it’s a fun selection of auditions that are worth your time.
Three trailers for the film are included.
I wasn’t provided with the booklet which includes the new essays, unfortunately.
Criterion’s release of Anora is another stunner from the label. A fantastic transfer, an unbelievable amount of bonus features that’ll keep you occupied for hours and an excellent film to boot, recommending this is a no brainer. Full marks across the board, add this one to your collection immediately!
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