ANORA (2024)

Cast

Plot

A young sex worker from Brooklyn gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out to get the marriage annulled. “ The film won multiple awards including Oscars and BAFTAs, so this review may be out of step with mainstream opinion. Anora claims to be a dark comedy but it disappoints, despite an excellent performance from the lead in the circumstances. Those circumstances being that her character is implausibly naive given her occupation. Then the film tries to show Russian goons as both menacing and farcical, and unsurprisingly they end up as neither. The result is unengaging, dull and a bit of a mess, that could conceivably been improved by some vigorous editing” review from Neil Jacobs