Is ‘Anora’ the Best Movie of the Year?

Anora, Sean Baker’s humorous, engaging, and emotional Cinderella story, could be one of the best movies of 2024.

As a film critic, I see a lot of movies every year, and I can tell a movie really hits for me when I want to rewatch it. The second the credits started rolling on Sean Baker’s new film Anora, I was already thinking about how much I wanted to see it again.

Fueled by an incredible performance from Mikey Madison, this Cinderella story is humorous, engaging, and packs an emotional punch.

Madison plays Ani, an erotic dancer who marries Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein), the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. They party, they have lots of sex, they live the high life, and all of Ani’s dreams seem like they’re coming true until things get complicated. Ivan’s father’s henchmen Toros (Karren Karagulian), Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan), and Igor (Yura Borisov) come to put a stop to the relationship.

The plot is filled with character-fueled turns, so it’s best to go in not knowing all the details, but the journey is fascinating because the characters are all so engaging. It’s easy to have empathy for everyone in this story, which fully locks us into every scene.

Anora contains some of the funniest moments on screen this year. The escalation of the situation in one scene creates a frenetic chaos that keeps us cracking up despite the circumstances. It works because the characters feel so natural and all the actors are firing on all cylinders in terms of performance. They’re striking the perfect tone for every moment to draw a laugh.

In other scenes, we feel for them on a deeper level. Madison, in particular, does a fantastic job of giving us little peeks behind Ani’s strong facade to see the real emotions she’s feeling. It’s immediately relatable and it makes us root for her even harder.

With a fast pace and such engaging characters, you won’t even notice the runtime is over two hours, and you’ll be eager to watch it again to spend more time with this cast.