Anora, one of the best-reviewed films of 2024, has finally opened in theaters. Directed by Sean Baker and starring Mikey Madison, it follows an exotic dancer who finds herself in a whirlwind romance with the son of a Russian criminal that quickly turns sour when his family discovers that the two got married secretly. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Palm d’Or, the first American film to win the top prize since 2011’s Tree of Life. The film is finally arriving in theaters and beginning its potential award-season rollout.
This week’s best new film, Anora, currently sits at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 127 reviews, granting it a Certified Fresh label. The score is well above many of the films currently playing in theaters, including fellow new releases this weekend, Smile 2, which boasts an impressive 82%, last weekend’s box office hit Terrifier 3 with 74%, and fellow tragic romance We Live in Time with 80%. The Metacritic score for Anora is also an impressive 92%, with 40 reviews longed on the site and an 82% audience score based on 17 verified user ratings, earning the film the Universal Acclaim banner on the site.
As the ratings suggest, Anora has received near-universal acclaim from critics since its first screening at Cannes earlier this summer. MovieWeb‘s Britt Hayes gave the film a 10/10 rating, drawing comparisons to Pretty Woman and praising it as “a riveting slice of life on the margins of society with John Cassavetes’ DNA coursing through its veins.” Much praise has also been given to the film’s star, with Screen International critic Wendy Idle saying, “Mikey Madison is a revelation.” Collider called her character Ani/Anora “an outstanding breakout performance from Mikey Madison,” while Rolling Stone‘s David Fear delivered high praise for the actress:
“[Mikey Madison] exits stage left as an above-the-title star. Then, just when you’ve think you’ve seen the full multitudes of this working-class martyr, the actor downshifts and manages to crack you in two.”
Let the Oscar Race Begin with Anora
Neon acquired Anora before it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and, following its Palm d’Or win, set up a limited theatrical rollout. It opens in six theaters starting October 18, 2024, and will look to expand into more theaters over the coming weeks as it hopes to build awards buzz. Anora is the fifth consecutive Palme d’Or winner that Neon acquired the United States distribution rights, following Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, and Anatomy of a Fall. With the exception of Titane, all the other films went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with Parasite taking home the top prize. This certainly puts a lot of expectations on Anora.
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Based on the glowing reviews, Anora has at least emerged out of the gate as a clear Oscar frontrunner. The question will be if it can maintain this momentum through the awards season, or if movies released towards the end of December, like Queer, The Brutalist, and Babygirl, will take some of its thunder. Mikey Madison has undoubtedly cemented herself as a leading candidate for Best Actress, but the race will heat up. While the box office is a very different place than when Pretty Woman became the fourth highest-grossing movie of 1990, one shouldn’t count Anora out of being a box office hit in its own right. The class-conscious nature of the movie, mixed with the romance and Oscar buzz, has the potential to make Anora a mainstream hit.
Anora
is playing in theaters in limited release now.