Sean Baker has been a star at the center of independent film for years. He’s made a lasting impression with films like The Florida Project, Red Rocket, and Tangerine. And now he’s writing and directing Anora, a romantic comedy-drama of sorts that’s doing extremely well at film festivals this year. It’s the first American film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes since 2011, and for good reason. This film is an absolute riot designed to be experienced with the largest possible audience, creating an unforgettable experience rarely replicated in modern cinema.

I love that Baker saw the girl who played psychopathic killers get set on fire by the heroes in both Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the 2022 Scream film and knew he had to work with her. Mikey Madison is a movie star in the making. She’s the title character and her face is front and center in every marketing piece. Her performance here is a revelation. It’s fun to see how soft-spoken Madison is in real life, because she brings so much New York City street to this role that feels masterful and authentic.

She plays Anora, a sex worker who meets a young Russian client named Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). After he first hires her for her services, they embark on a whirlwind romance that leads to the two eloping to Vegas. But when Ivan’s family discovers that he’s married to a sex worker, they show up to get the marriage annulled. My favorite kind of movie is a simple concept that’s executed to the max. Anora is an energetic, fast-paced film that takes its time with each of its characters and spends most of its second and third acts in a delightfully chaotic ride.

Anora and Ivan start out as a fun match for each other. Baker does a great job directing both their sex scenes and their on-screen chemistry. The actors bring so much physicality to these roles. Madison has trained for months to learn how to pole dance, and she brings an excellent amount of sexuality and power to her dancing scenes. Meanwhile, Eydelshteyn, who has been dubbed by journalists as "the Russian Timothée Chalamet" (not a bad comparison), quickly wins us over. He has a hilariously frenetic energy and does so much with his body that makes every scene even more entertaining than it already is.