Anora

Funny and heartbreaking

Even though Anora is filled with humor, and it is a romantic comedy of sorts, it is an unbearably sad movie. Mikey Madison plays Anora, a Brighton Beach girl of Russian descent who works as a stripper and is summoned to cater to Vanya (the excellent Marc Eydelshtein), the young heir of a Russian oligarch, because she is supposed to speak Russian. Anora, or Ani, as she insists in being addressed, is totally transactional, a hustler and a pro, always ready to comply with Vanya’s (or anyone’s) desires for a price. Once outside the confines of the club where she works, she negotiates a rate for one week to be Vanya’s girlfriend, spending time at his hideous mansion, patiently waiting for him to be done with his video games. This evolves into an impulsive romp in Las Vegas where they end up getting married, at Vanya’s urging. Nothing happens for either one of them that does not have a potential ulterior motive. Vanya is looking to get a green card, Ani is looking for her financial freedom and for respectability. Vanya, who claims to be 20, is a rich spoiled brat let loose upon the world. His parents are M.I.A. He spends their money whoring, gambling, doing drugs, and paying for splurges with his friends. He is immature and entitled. His parents have tasked two Armenian brothers, one who moonlights as a priest, to keep an eye on him. They don’t or they can’t, so he is very much on his own. Eydelshtein gives a…