How to watch Anora at home

Just in case you missed one of the best films of the year, you’re in luck: Sean Baker’s beloved film “Anora” is finally available on the video-on-demand service.

If the name “Anora” sounds familiar, it’s probably because Baker’s twisty Cinderella story won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and has received rave reviews since its official wide release. In October, the number of nominations for the Golden Globe Award was recorded when Those It was announced in early December. (Despite the risks of editing, I feel comfortable saying that this film will It will be in the Best Picture race when Oscar nominations are announced early next year.)

With Mickey Madison as the titular Anora — the eponymous Annie — and a supporting cast that includes newcomer Mark Edelstein, the excellent Yura Borisov, and frequent Baker collaborator Karen Karagilan (who has appeared in the writer-director’s films over the years), “Anora” is a stunning, funny fairy tale Dark, sexy, and broken definitely It’s worth a watch, and if you follow awards season as closely as, say, the folks here at /Film do, you’ll definitely want to add it to your queue. You’ll be able to rent or buy “Anora” on major platforms like Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video starting December 17, 2024. But before you watch it – what is it about, and what specifically did critics love about this unexpected romantic comedy? (Yes “Anora” He is Romantic comedy.)

Throughout his career to date, Sean Baker has prominently featured real and fictional sex workers in his films. Anura is teaching Hollywood a lesson that it has ignored for years in this regardhighlights Anora “Annie” Mikheeva (Mickey Madison), a young dancer who, during an ordinary night working at a strip club, is asked to cater to a certain patron because he speaks Russian. The sponsor in question is Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Edelstein), a brash young man from an extremely wealthy and powerful Russian family who takes a shine to Annie, inviting her to her home for private meetings, offering to pay for her company, and flying her to Las Vegas on a private jet… At which point Vanya casually reveals that he needs a green card so his parents can’t force him to return to Russia. Annie, charmed by Vanya’s money, her spontaneity, and the enormous diamonds he offers her, accepts, and to a great extent Immediately After they got married in a small church in Vegas, Vanya’s family found out about the whole thing.

Vanya, who is nothing if not a child, runs away in the night, forcing Ani and the Zakharovs’ sons Igor (Yura Borisov), Garnik (Vashey Tovmasyan), and Toros (Karen Karagulyan) to chase him over a period of time. A long and exhausting evening; When they find him, Vanya refuses to meaningfully interact with Annie and essentially throws her to the wolves (in this case, “wolves” refers to Vanya’s tyrannical family, who immediately hate Annie and believe she tricked Vanya into joining the Federation the first time around). Because I’m here to inspire you He watches “Anora,” I won’t spoil the ending here, but rest assured it wraps everything up in a way that’s both satisfying and devastating… and the final shot is one of the best things Baker has ever shot.

It’s an understatement to say that “Anora” has received glowing reviews from critics. in /Film review of the film“There’s nothing quite like Anora, and it’s probably the best film I’ll see in 2024,” Jacob Hall said, before continuing, “I’m not saying all films need to feel so easy, and present such big emotions wrapped in such thoughtful complexity, but I say movies like this remind me why I love movies so much in the first place.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a 96% critical consensus, and when you look at the reviews, it becomes clear that almost every critic, truly I love Anora. Dana Stevens in List Critics praised the film highly, writing: “It is a crowd-pleasing, funny, exciting and uproarious film, while it is also astonishingly wise and kind”, while many other critics, including Peter Travers in ABC Newsthey turned their attention to Mickie Madison’s stunning performance. “Mickey Madison, Oscar’s new Cinderella, leads a group of lunatics as a sex worker who finds her prince in the son of a dangerous Russian oligarch,” Travers wrote. “No list of the best films of the year would be complete without Sean Baker’s whirlwind of fun and social thrills.” per hour Rolling StoneDavid Fair echoed this sentiment: “(Mickey Madison) exits stage left as the star above the title. Then, just when you think you’ve seen the full crowd of this working-class martyr, the actor moves down and manages to split you in two.” This was probably Bilge Ebere New York Magazine This summed it all up best. As he puts it, “Despite its charm, Anora is a film about everyone fighting to survive, and they only manage to succeed when they start working together.”

“Anora” will be available to rent on VOD starting December 17, 2025.