Khoi Vinh’s review published on Letterboxd:
After three home runs I expected this latest Sean Baker joint to leave the ballpark—especially after winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes—but it’s just a triple. I don’t know why baseball seems like such an apt metaphor for Baker’s oeuvre—this movie literally has nothing to do with America’s pastime. Still it’s hard to think of another 21st century director who has delivered so consistently over the past decade that I guess in a way Baker seems like an incredibly gifted athlete. Anyway! This movie is oddly a ton of fun despite its thoroughly disheartening subject matter, mostly due to star Mikey Madison’s riveting, sympathetic portrait of an erotic dancer who gets involved with the son of a Russian oligarch, only to be pulled back with violent suddenness. Of course there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had thanks to Baker’s generous, humanistic storytelling instincts, especially in the way he allows Madison’s Anora and a motley crew of handlers to scramble all over south Brooklyn on a haphazard manhunt, driven more by their manic characterizations than by plot contrivances that demand them to be in certain places at certain points in the story, as lesser movies would dictate. This organic quality is key to Baker’s stories, but it falters here more than it has in the past, first in a subplot intended to humanize a would-be thug in Anora’s orbit that signals its intentions too loudly, too obviously and too early. More glaring is a third act appearance by the aforementioned oligarch and his wife, who seem to be annexed from another kind of movie entirely; they’re almost utterly devoid of the naturalism and humanity that Baker consistently allows virtually all of his characters. In truth the third act feels surprisingly lethargic as a result, but then Baker and Madison deliver a stunner of an ending. It’s a virtually wordless scene that communicates untold volumes of emotional depth with shocking efficiency. I felt sincerely moved by it.
Saw it at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn, on a packed Wednesday night.
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_4d59898f-04c7-491e-b82d-29f4e3cea59b" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-4d59898f-04c7-491e-b82d-29f4e3cea59b'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-4d59898f-04c7-491e-b82d-29f4e3cea59b'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-4d59898f-04c7-491e-b82d-29f4e3cea59b'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_04f127f9-9347-4f3d-a029-178a18003731" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-04f127f9-9347-4f3d-a029-178a18003731'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-04f127f9-9347-4f3d-a029-178a18003731'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-04f127f9-9347-4f3d-a029-178a18003731'));
