Anora

Anora, a sassy Brooklyn sex worker with a thick ‘New Yawk’ accent, and the Russian juvenile nepo baby Vanya get married in Vegas during a ketamine-filled weekend, just after he had hired her for the week to be his "girlfriend". Far from a terrific plan it seems, especially when Vanya’s enraged parents dispatch a couple of goons to annul the marriage. It’s director Sean Baker’s self-written chaos and he succeeds in doubling it down into a kinetic screwball-tragicomedy that fits right between Uncut Gems, Pretty Woman, an adult-only version of Cinderella and – according to the jury in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or – the classic structures of Ernst Lubitsch and Howard Hawks. Anora is another entry in Baker’s ever-impressive oeuvre which destigmatizes sex work and humanizes its characters whatever the line of work they’re in. Actress Mikey Madison (remember the name!) sinks her teeth into a role for the ages, becoming a star in the process.