It’s easy to fall hard for Mikey Madison in “Anora,” director Sean Baker’s exceptional film about a Brooklyn exotic dancer. The 25-year-old actress has been working for about a decade, with roles in the “Scream” reboot and the Pamela Adlon series “Better Things,” among many others. But Madison’s unforgettable performance as Anora, who prefers the Americanized nickname Annie, is, to anyone with eyes and ears, her star-is-born moment.
An elixir of charm, hilarity, rudeness, guts and grace, she’s a modern-day Liza in “Arthur,” Marisa Tomei in “My Cousin Vinny.” Only there’s an important difference. In the end, when Annie wearily exhales after a whirlwind week of romance, fear and crushing disappointment, she crumbles — and the viewer goes right along with her.
Miraculous Madison is part of a trove of standing-ovation elements in the latest movie from the director of “ The Florida Project .” Endlessly entertaining and frequently hysterical, “Anora” is one of the year’s best films and a formidable Oscar contender. Like caviar, it’s not for everybody.
This unsentimental, less-straightforward “Pretty Woman” starts with a panning shot of topless lap dancers and includes plenty of sex (the funny kind) and choice language that’s the opposite of politically correct. Like caviar, give it a go. Annie’s G-strings-to-riches journey begins late one night at a strip club, where a 21-year-old high roller requests a girl who can speak Russian.
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