Anora & Yekaterina, Ani & Katie
An in-depth review of Anora through the eyes of a Russian-speaking Jewish girl from immigrant Brooklyn
Heads up: This review contains spoilers for both Anora and my personal story—you might learn more than you want to know about either!
I went into the movie completely blind, knowing only that it was about a Russian girl in Brooklyn, and have seen it just once in theaters several months ago.
Since Anora is now on Hulu, I plan to watch it again and invite everyone to watch and discuss with me!
Privet Anya!
When Anora hit New York theaters in late 2024, men — old classmates who had long gone silent and new faces from music shows — suddenly started DMing.
One such man sending me Anora poster: “Btw you remind me of this main lead of this new show.”
Me (seeing Mikey Madison on the poster): “lol That’s a big compliment thanks”
Him: “Yeah, I don’t mean to flatter you… but you kinda have a charisma and looks similar to hers.”
Me (actually quite flattered):
My silence was even longer when I realized that the movie that reminded people of me was about sex workers living in Brighton Beach…
This was NOT on my 2024 bingo card!
And such a movie winning an Oscar was DEFINITELY not on my 2025 bingo card.
Before long, it wasn't just men trying to DM—everyone who enjoys The Cinema and knows anything about me started asking if I'd seen Anora !?
And the answer was NET, for a while.
I stalled giving this movie a chance because:
I had known of Mikey Madison for years—even before "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"—as I loved her in "Better Things." I knew she was an amazing actress, and while she looks a bit like me because she's Jewish, she isn't Russian.
Sean Baker isn't Russian.
I didn't even know a single Russian girl in Brooklyn named "Anora" (though plenty of Anyas, sure).
I admit I judged the story by its cover—not the sex work itself, but how the film would portray the people and story.
I was tired of leaving theaters annoyed by American movies with their mock-worthy Russian accents.
Sure, Russia has plenty of problems, but jokes about Russians are as stale as the Cold War
(and as tired as poking fun at the "babushka" winter look—but that's a side rant, moving on).
More relevantly, the plot—a young talented sex worker starts a relationship with her young immature client, a Russian billionaire's son—didn't interest me. It sounded depressing, as if it would end terribly for the sex worker.
Russian billionaire's son? Red flag, red flag, for any woman of any age working any type of job.
Eventually, my American friends with excellent taste, like Sara, invited me to watch it for movie night — and I showed up, nervously clutching my popcorn like a shield, bracing for a storm of negative emotions in the name of art.
I was READY to write a really critical review on this Substack!! but
I shouldn’t have doubted Mikey and Sean.
Anora is the closest-to-my-home American movie I've ever seen.
As a Russian-speaking Jewish girl who grew up in immigrant Brooklyn and spent many days dancing in Brighton Beach (though just ballet as a kid, don’t get too excited), I can only start with "thank you!"
I expected to feel anger, resentment, and gloominess but instead, while watching it, I felt joyous, comforted, and deeply understood. It's so rare to see my culture portrayed authentically in an American movie (or TV show or book or anything), but here I felt truly seen.
10/10 from me. 5 stars.
If someone needs a movie to understand me a little better, I recommend this one!
Let me tell you why, starting from some background and ending with analysis of a few prevalent themes.
Yekaterina
Yekaterina hates being called Katie.
Yekaterina spent ten years living in Southern Brooklyn (not to be confused with South Brooklyn) and ten years hoping to move out.
Her favorite parts of her immigrant neighborhood were taking long walks to the Verrazano Bridge, hanging out with skater boys who let her practice or music boys who would invite her over for jam sessions or Rock band, and gulping $2.50 (and surprisingly fresh) sushi rolls.
The park's worn swing set was her reliable escape.
Also, she would escape to South Brooklyn (not to be confused with Southern Brooklyn), the Poconos, and Manhattan.
Richer American friends let her sleep over and borrow their lives, and she was grateful for having much-needed breaks from immigrant reality.
Her own community was talented, smart, and gritty—more hardworking and community-oriented than any place she's lived since. Yet they struggled, carrying trauma while trying to build new lives in a foreign country without connections or resources.
Though Yekaterina loved dancing, piano, writing, and art, she began creating websites in elementary school—sensing it would be her most reliable path to the heart of the city and to both physical and mental security.
After moving out of the area for good, she was disappointed by how few ethnic grocery stores existed elsewhere in NYC and how she'd never again find a decent sushi roll for $2.50. Also, she missed hearing more languages than English.
Now, when new men meet her through mutual friends and list facts about her, they mention only her current surface-level life—her neighborhood, her gym, her Substack, and her brassy, independent demeanor towards potential suitors.
Anora
Anora prefers to be called Ani.
Anora lives with a roommate (sister?) in a Russian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. She works as a sex worker and dancer and is talented at her job. She speaks Russian to communicate with her family but doesn't like speaking it since she can't roll her Rs.
There is not much else we know about Ani. Her background? Her dreams? Her past relationships? Do you know? I don’t!
All we see is her brassy, independent demeanor through her interactions with a few people in the span of a few weeks.
All the Ways Yekaterina Finds Anora Relatable:
Katya can't roll her Rs either. In Russia, she was forced to attend speech therapy. A welcome revelation about America was discovering that not rolling Rs wasn't considered a speech defect here.
The sound of the Brooklyn trains above ground! She does not miss it!
Women in Southern Brooklyn are tough, feisty, and not afraid to talk/fight back.
Women in Southern Brooklyn are especially protective of their families and each other.
Women in Southern Brooklyn are used to being surrounded by drunk babies (Ivan) and people with masculinity complexes (Igor).
All the locations are 100% real and portrayed accurately: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/28/movies/anora-brooklyn-sean-baker.html?unlocked_article_code=1.104.kz78.oApLmoxAVrf8&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
People on walks of shame at Brighton Beach? People searching for a lost boy? Common.
The way women in Southern Brooklyn talk differently to men they're dating (so loving!! 💓💓 💓 ) versus any other man pursuing them (insults only 😡😡😡).
Completely accurate dialogue:
“You are all idiots”
“Of course, are you stupid?”
anything about being an idiot or, worse, stupid
All of Ani’s even worse insults towards Igor
Lots of cursing
“Thank you”, instead of “sorry”
Women yelling at men “___, talk to me, you’re a grownup!”
Take that scene of everyone yelling in the car and put those same people in any other situation—the dialogue would still be accurate
FAQs about accuracy:
Sean and Mikey deserve all their awards for the research and love they poured into this project.
Does Anora accurately portray Russian speakers in Southern Brooklyn?
Yes.
Mikey's Russian was amazing—not her pronunciation, which appropriately reflected Ani's non-Russian birth, but her tone and intonation. The moment she started speaking Russian, I relaxed and enjoyed the movie, confident I was in good hands.
Not every Russian in Southern Brooklyn speaks like her, but I know first generation girls who do.
Everyone else spoke fluent Russian and probably improvised a lot of the script.
I felt thankful for the diversity of Russian speakers it shows—we aren't all the same, as American media usually tries to show. The Soviet Union was huge!
Does Anora accurately portray gender dynamics in Southern Brooklyn?
Yes.
Anora accurately portrays one type of Russian-speaking young woman's personality, along with the diverse personalities of typical Russian-speaking young men.
Does Anora accurately portray strip clubs?
While I can't speak about strip clubs specifically, the club scenes in NYC felt authentic based on my own experiences.
I will say that it is significant that Ani works in an American club in Manhattan and not a Russian one in Brooklyn. It hints at where she wants to belong.
Next, I'd love to discuss a few themes presented in Anora that elevate it beyond a romcom/action movie to something truly Oscar-worthy.
Understanding these themes (and my background, of course) helps explain why I deeply connect with Ani as a character and understand her decisions.
Red on grey:
Red serves as a powerful motif throughout the film and its posters—symbolizing Russia, America, passion, oppression, and freedom.
Ani gravitates toward red, refusing to settle for the grey hues of her life.
Yet, in a twist, those same objects—the red sheets on the bed, the scarf—that first excite her become sources of danger and constraint, while paradoxically offering comfort during cold, grey days.
I deeply relate to craving bursts of color during grey days, and to the complex duality of oppression and freedom that comes with being Jewish-Russian-American.
Laughing when sad:
I have two distinct sides: one that's a Very Serious & Sad Kat, and then there's giggly Katya. I have quite a contagious laugh that shows up at unfortunate times—sorry!
I laughed the entire movie, from the beginning to the end, even if a lot of it is depressing on paper…
… just like I laugh at my own life, even when a lot of it is depressing on paper…
I don’t know another way to live to the next day!
Michael, an American artist who saw the movie, told me that he “didn’t laugh really, at all, the whole time cause it felt dystopian”.
I wonder if Michael thinks my life is dystopian!
Dystopia is funny to me.
A lot of messed up human behavior is funny to me because we humans choose our own fates and could choose kindness, minimalism, and community instead. We can all imagine a safe, good world but don't work hard enough to create it, even though it's in our control. We don’t need to live in dystopia, and yet still do, and that is pretty silly, isn’t it! Silly humans! As an outsider and anthropological writer, I laugh plenty. If I was a God, I’d be laughing even more.
In several interviews, Sean emphasized that he wanted Anora to be his funniest film yet, filled with snappy dialogue and physical comedy. I find that this approach really worked for this topic because:
humor is a tool that sex workers and other service workers use to comfort their clients—and similarly, the film uses humor to comfort viewers while addressing intense topics
crude humor is a big part of Southern Brooklyn culture
it adds to the element of surprise that makes the movie exciting.
Life is funny and fun until suddenly it isn't, and you're crying in a car—that's just how things go sometimes.
Boundaries always:
If you also have two distinct sides—one that's Very Serious & Sad, and another that's giggly and silly—you may find it hard to communicate boundaries effectively, as I do. Not Ani!
Throughout the movie, despite her hopeful youth, working-class background, and work as a sex worker, Ani maintains an optimistic outlook on her life and future while setting firm boundaries with everyone she meets. Love that for her!
She expresses boundaries:
At her work:
“When you give me health insurance, workers' comp and a 401K, then you can tell me when I work!”
“You don’t have cash?! let’s go to the ATM!”
“I can speak Russian. I just prefer not to, but you can go ahead and speak Russian. I'll understand.”
With Ivan:
Setting her price, stating her terms.
With the goons:
Constantly expressing how she feels and what she wants!
Goals!
Ani is often described as brassy and headstrong, but is she really?
Or is she simply stating her boundaries loudly and clearly so no one can misunderstand—something so rare for women in America that we view it as negative?
Young and younger:
Ani is quite young for Americans, in her early 20s. But in Eastern European/Southern Brooklyn years, she is a Full-Grown Adult.
My parents wanted me to be an adult by age 17 and now I’m a 30 year old baby.
Unlike me, Ani is ready for marriage, ready for a honeymoon in Disney’s Cinderella’s suite (representing #America), ready for change.
Her counterpart and lover, Ivan, is a baby boy. He plays around in America but runs back to Main Mommy in Mother Russia as soon as she calls.
By the end of the movie, Ani must be the mature one who makes the wise choice to protect her community, even if it means stepping away from everything she was working towards throughout the movie. Ivan remains childish.
The joy of staying young:
Ivan's childishness isn't a surprise to anyone watching the movie—he remains exactly who he is from beginning to end.
So why does Ani go for him?
There's the money and the mansion, of course.
And there's how he expresses wanting to stay in America—she is his way to make that happen, which gives her some power.
But there's also a pure, genuine joy Ani feels when hanging around him.
When you have to be adult and mature and be "on" both at home and at work for so much of your life, it feels very pleasurable to be around someone who hasn't grown up yet!
With Ivan, Ani gets to play. She too, could sit around playing video games and slide around the mansion.
By the way, you have to see Mark Eydelshteyn on the Red Carpet for Amelia from Chicken Shop saying "Thank you Academy Members to this carpet! Why? Cause:" before sliding across it:
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Pure joy from Mark/Ivan!
Plus vibes!
The duality in relationships:
Another dynamic that works for Ani is something every relationship needs—the balance between safety and freedom. As relationship expert Esther Perel explains, this duality is essential for eroticism.
We all have two sets of human needs that pull us in different directions: Security/adventure, stability/change, familiarity/novelty.
Perhaps Ani wants connection and love—who knows—and she certainly finds novelty and adventure hanging around Ivan.
Yes, Ivan is the worst, BUT if everything works with Ivan, Ani would have it all — safety escaping from a difficult life, plus the freedom that comes with a whole staff of people taking care of you, your husband, and your mansion.
The duality of hope:
Hope permeates this movie from the very beginning, starting with the opening song "Greatest Day" by Take That: "Let's make a new start. The future is ours to find. Can you see it?"
So how does Sean keep this fleeting feeling alive throughout the movie without being overly cheesy?
One unique decision Sean made was to create a movie that could be divided in two.
He often mentions that the movie could end with the helicopter flying over Brooklyn about an hour in, giving viewers a Cinderella-like "happily ever after" ending.
And then, SPOILER, you enter a completely different genre, far more violent and dark.
As Debbie writes to me, "I loved how Anora for the first half felt like a music video/glamorous montage, and then the second half was a tense process of undoing."
First half: Isn't this exactly how hope feels?
Second half: Isn't this the terror that hope brings?
As Michael writes, "The movie was coaxing us into a false sense of levity the whole time… and talking to our underpinnings… then giving us a big uppercut to the chin at the end."
Still, hope remains my favorite feeling. It makes you dream, take risks, and open your heart to possibilities—even knowing it leaves you vulnerable.
Even if you aren't a sex worker living in a poorer immigrant community kissing a billionaire's son, you can relate to meeting someone and hoping that your life will change for the better, and feeling like the main character in a music video.
But you know and I know, life rarely unfolds as we imagine. You can achieve a happy ending—but the journey there won't always feel joyful.
Hopefully you won't face anything as dramatic as the Russian mafia chasing you… but life rarely offers smooth sailing.
The people you counted on start to feel like strangers.
Sometimes the middle part is dystopian.
Anora shows the glamorous best-case scenario shortly followed by the scary worst-case scenario, and ends on a tender note somewhere in-between.
I am thankful I watched the entire movie, both the ups and downs, and was left with a feeling that risks are worth taking to move one's life forward.
Butterflies:
In Southern Brooklyn, all the pretty girls get their nails done. I still feel naked if I don't have nail polish on, like right now as I type this, although nowadays I paint them myself instead of going to the salon twice a month.
It is significant that Ani's nails have butterflies on them. There are about a billion options for her to choose and she chose a butterfly.
Butterflies are often used to symbolize hope, as they transform and fly away.
In Anora, butterflies are also used to contrast what she thinks of herself versus what society thinks of her.
Her friend at the strip club sees her nails and compliments her for having a butterfly instead of dollar bills, saying she's "so classy." Ani agrees! She is classy! It's good to be a social butterfly—for women, that's often a sign they're happy and thriving.
In contrast, the Russians call Ani a “night butterfly” which is a Russian way of saying “prostitute”. This isn’t a compliment. Her job brings shame to Ivan’s family.
Womanhood often involves navigating the delicate balance between being a social butterfly and what others label a "night butterfly"—a journey that isn’t unique to Ani.
There is a certain relatable sadness that comes with the fact that the same thing Ani hopes will transform her for the better—in her case, her job giving her these crazy opportunities to marry rich and escape—is something that will ultimately block those very dreams.
Ani’s butterfly nails remain unchanged throughout the film, revealing both the brief timespan of her story—so brief she doesn't need a new manicure—and her unwavering authenticity as a social butterfly who keeps, and will keep, hoping for better things. I found this detail inspirational to all women.
Happy Women’s Month to us…
Dosvedanya Vanya!
Just as I began with gratitude to Sean and Mikey, I'll close with another thank you. I am serious. And I said it twicely!
It is bold to make a movie about Russian sex workers set in Brighton Beach. For many, this wouldn’t be the winning formula to please the masses.
Sean might have still won his Oscar if
he had taken the easy route by mocking Russians and sex workers
and especially Russian sex workers
or made it even more porn-y (I found the movie to be very tasteful with the nudity)
or exploited trauma porn for entertainment, but he skillfully avoids all these approaches.
The movie doesn't rely on a tragic backstory to make us feel sympathy for Ani or understand her character. Her personality, way of speaking, and presence are compelling enough to make us connect with her and cheer for her success.
The movie is violent, but Sean never takes it too far (we worry he might, but then he doesn't, and Ani is okay because she is strong and fights back, and we are relieved).
I wish more writers and filmmakers realized that our imagination is violent enough! We don't need to see the worst violence towards women on screen for us to feel fear!
I also appreciated the documentary-like lens throughout, which gave us almost no context about the characters and let us focus purely on the present moment. More writers and filmmakers should challenge themselves to create compelling "now" scenes without using context as a crutch.
After all, in real life, we connect with people, their stories, and their art without any background information all the time!
Because of the sparse background details about Ani and the subtle handling of violence against sex workers, viewers interpreted Sean's message about sex work—and particularly the ending—in various ways.
So, of course, I have to ask and answer: Why is Ani crying?
Some people told me it's because she finally feels a real connection—that she finally feels valued. She is so touched by a few humane gestures that she cries!
But where's the evidence???
Stop projecting!
We have no context suggesting Ani has never had a good relationship, feels lonely, or disconnected. These details simply aren't in the movie, and Sean could have easily highlighted them.
Also, if you think Igor was a breath of fresh air for Ani, and that she felt surprised by him, maybe that's what Sean intended, but it doesn't feel realistic to me.
Brooklyn has plenty of chivalrous Russian men who, while more well-mannered than typical American guys, often take their masculinity too seriously—which explains Ani's initial defensiveness with Igor.
It would be impossible for Igor to be the first such man Ani has ever encountered. As soon as I saw Igor, I put him in a category, that ended up being correct, because I’ve met countless men just like him!
So what is my take?
Here's my revolutionary thought: After several stressful days of adulting, any woman—regardless of age or profession—might simply want to kiss a man who gave her a gift and have a good cry.
Let's stop projecting this tired narrative that unmarried lower class women must be lonely, miserable, and desperate for connection!
Women are free to sleep with whomever they choose, speak up when necessary, and cry when they need to. #women’smonth!
Ani contains her emotions while handling the rollercoaster of events, then finally allows herself to release them.
Now that is what makes her human in our dystopian world—and it has more to do with her background in Southern Brooklyn and class dynamics in this stupid, classist society than her profession.
The movie ends with her crying in the rain—not with her running away with any man. Will that happen? We don't know—and I don't want to know.
By the end, I'm simply relieved that Ani allowed herself to cry. This shows me she'll be okay, and not because of Igor or any man.
Ani’s tears show she’s choosing to feel—fully, freely—and that alone is a defiant act of hope in this dystopia.
Sean ends on a wise note: letting yourself feel emotions and cry is sometimes the only logical step toward healing. Then—and only then—can you return to being a butterfly in the grey day-to-day, always searching for those glimpses of red.
Sigh.
Perhaps that’s exactly the kind of Oscar-worthy story we ought to be cheering for.
So anyway, that is what I’ve been thinking about!
If you end up watching Anora on Hulu, let’s discuss—did the movie (and this entire rant) help you understand me a little more?
Let me know!
In the meantime, here’s to brighter days and bolder leaps:
Happy Spring! Happy Women’s Month!
Na zdorovie 🥂,
Katya
😍