Anora (Criterion Collection): 4K UHD Review
Arriving on The Criterion Collection’s Special Edition 4K UHD this week is Sean Baker’s Academy Award winning, Anora, starring Academy Award winner, Mikey Madison. I missed this film when it was in theaters. To be fair, I missed a handful of the Academy Award nominees. Not because of the lack of interest, but more due to the lack of time I had last year.
23-year-old Russian-American stripper, Anora “Ani” Mikheeva (Madison) lives in Brighten Beach and works in Brooklyn. One night her boss introduces Ani to a group of young men at the club who only speak Russian. Since she is the only dancer that is fluent in Russian, he needs her to make them spend money. The young man Ani talks to is Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eydelshten), the 21-year-old son of the Russian oligarch. Vanya is in the U.S. to study, but that’s not how he spends his time. Partying, clubs and video games seem to take up most of his life.
After a few paid sexual encounters, Vanya negotiates a week-long girlfriend-experience with Ani. They agreed to $15,000 for her to be his girlfriend for a week. This includes a trip to Las Vegas, where the two get married. If Vanya gets married, he wouldn’t have to go back to Russia and work at his father’s company. For Ani, it’s more about marrying into a wealthy family, which is why she quits her job as soon as she gets back to New York. When Vanya’s family learns about the marriage, they order her godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian) and his henchmen Igor (Yura Borisov) and Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) to find the newlyweds and force them to get the marriage annulled. This leads to the men restraining Ani, but Vanya, running out of the house, leaving his new wife behind to fend for herself. Yep, true love indeed. After numerous threats, Anora, Toros, Garnik and Igor go on an all-night search for Vanya, who is wandering around the city.
If you haven’t seen Anora, I don’t want to give away the final act, but in my personal option, it was kind of a letdown. I am kind of surprised the film did so well at the Oscars. While not bad, Baker’s Red Rocket and The Florida Project are far superior. While Madison does give a strong performance, I wouldn’t call it one of the year’s best. Still there is a lot to admire about Anora, especially some of the more chaotic moments.
The new 4K digital master, which was supervised by Sean Baker and producer Alex Coco looks fantastic. From the neon-soaked darkened back rooms of the strip club to Vanya’s parents’ beautiful Brooklyn mansion, the locations in Anora really pop. Skin tones look natural, and the streets of New York look rich and detailed. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track does not disappoint. This is important, because we want to be able to hear the dialogue clearly due to the many thick accents hitting our eardrums.
There are a handful of bonus features, including two separate audio commentaries, new interviews and a making-of documentary. While I didn’t love Anora, the film has garnered a huge fan base and this release from Criterion is sure to please any of those fans.
Bonus Features:
- New 4K digital master, supervised by director Sean Baker and producer Alex Coco, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
- Two audio commentaries: one featuring Baker, Coco, producer Samantha Quan, and cinematographer Drew Daniels, and the other featuring Baker and actors Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan
- New making-of documentary
- New interviews with Baker and Madison
- Cannes Film Festival press conference
- Q&A with Madison and actor-stripper Lindsey Normington
- Deleted scenes
- Audition footage
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: Essays by film critic Dennis Lim and author Kier-La Janisse
By: Marc Ferman
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