"Ani" (Mikey Madison) works as a private dancer in New York when she is asked by her boss to go look after some visiting Russians. That's when she encounters the young "Vanya" (Mark Eydelshteyn). He's pretty drunk, completely stoned and has more money than God. He wants a dance, he wants much more - but that's not allowed in the club, so he invites her to his luxury pad next day for fun. She actually quite likes his youthful exuberance - and his cash - and after a few days, a Russian sable coat, and a trip to Vegas, they find themselves marred. Social media now takes an hand and his oligarch mother hears news that her son has married an hooker. Livid, she instructs her local fixer "Toros" (Karren Karagulian) to sort the mess out. He duly sends his two enforcers to the house where all hell promptly breaks loose. "Garnick" (Vache Tovmasyan) and "Tom" (Anton Bitter) are merely to detain the pair until their boss arrives to insist that marriage is going to be annulled; "Ani" is having none of that and "Vanya" - well he's just a little bit conflicted and quickly things start to go pear-shaped! This film starts off strongly with an entertaining courtship scenario played out between two actors who really do look like they are enjoying themselves. Eydelshteyn delivers enthusiastically and acrobatically, there's loads of sex and quite witty dialogue that plays nicely on the language barriers. Once the second phase of the film starts, though, it runs out of steam a little. "Vanya" doesn't feature so much and the story becomes a little less engaging as the rather too gentle thugs and the increasingly irate girl try to get everyone to the courthouse for the ruling before his angry mother arrives. That leaves us with too much overacting from Karagulian and some increasingly implausible scenarios as the air is gradually let out of the thing and it comes to end rather disappointingly. At it's best, though, the first hour is quickly paced and takes an amiable swipe at the sex trade and the players who make and take from it. Certainly worth a watch, it just hasn't quite the courage of it's initial convictions.

<em>'Anora'</em> is an absolute cracker! The film is unadulterated chaos, I honestly needed the silentness of it ending so I could relax. As usual, I'm not one to judge it on its deep-rooted meaning or whatever, I'll leave that to others, all I can say is that it's a blast and I unequivocally loved it. Mikey Madison's performance is sensational, quite the showing indeed! Apparently I've seen her in three other things (much less prominent roles, admittedly) before, evidently I don't remember her from those - but safe to say, I won't be forgetting Madison from this at any point. Superb! Away from the star performer, Mark Eydelshteyn makes the most out of his role. The trio of Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan and Yura Borisov are great comedic support. I've seen Aleksei Serebryakov here and there down the years and he always plays the same roles, I like him though. The 139 minutes go by in a flash, with the utterly chaotic nature it is no surprise. It isn't the most difficult movie to predict given that you are waiting for the crap to hit the fan, but how it gets to that point is a wild ride to witness - the concluding scene is stand out, too. I still have three more of the nominees to watch, but this overtakes <em>'The Substance'</em> as the film that would hypothetically get my vote for Best Picture; not that I take much value from that (or any other) awards ceremony. It'll take some beating!