The director of 'Tangerine', 'The Florida Project' and 'Red Rocket' delivers a brilliant rollercoaster ride - a modern fairytale that doubles as a gut-punch tragedy. It deservedly won this year’s Palme d’Or in Cannes and could very well be on its way to Oscar glory. , Sean Baker’s modern fairy tale, is a raucous blast.
It’s a kinetic New York City screwball comedy, which updates , shares the chaotic energy of the Safdie brothers’ , and disguises a dark heart within an atypical boy-meets-girl. As tempting as it is to stop the review right there, here’s some context. Our Cinderella is Anora (Mikey Madison), a feisty 23-year-old exotic dancer and sometime escort who prefers to be called Ani.
She works in a strip club in Manhattan and being of Russian descent, gets tasked with entertaining a Moskal. A sweaty oligarch? A menacing thug? No, our Prince Charming is a wiry 21-year-old surrounded by vape fumes and sporting a wild mop of hair to rival Timothée Chalamet’s wildest perms. His name’s Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) and he acts like a lovable buffoon: generous, goofy and very, very excitable.
He’s basically a puppy in human form. “I’m always happy,” he says. And so he should be.
He spends his time throwing parties and living off his dad’s money. Their time together, followed by a house call to his luxury pad, culminates in a proposal: Ivan asks Ani to be his “horny girlfriend for the week”, in exchange for $15k. She’s thrilled about the idea and tak.
