Anora Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Anora Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 6, 2025

Sean Baker's "Anora" (2024) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include multiple audio commentaries; new program with Sean Baker and Mikey Madison; footage from the Cannes Film Festival; deleted scenes; original trailers; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Somewhere, Paul Schrader must be feeling pretty strange now. Had he waited until last year to complete his trashy melodrama The Canyons, he could have easily enjoyed a trip to sunny Cannes and picked up a few Oscars too. Next to Sean Baker’s Anora, The Canyons looks like a stunning masterpiece of cinema verité. Schrader even pulled out a legitimate star from the adult entertainment industry, James Deen, to play one of the characters in The Canyons. Unfortunately for Schrader, The Canyons did not have swearing Russians and Armenians, a fancy soundtrack, and ridiculous superlatives raining upon it. But, hey, the film business is a tough business, so if one is in it, sometimes one has to take it on the chin and move on.

In Anora, the main protagonist makes ends meet in an even tougher and more unfair business. Ani (Mikey Madison) is in her early twenties and employed by a striptease club somewhere in Brooklyn. Inside the club, she sells lap dances and asks her clients to buy her drinks. Outside the club, for a proper fee, she can do a lot more. When Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoiled teenage son of Russian oligarch Nikolai Zacharov (Aleksei Seberbryakov), visits the club, Ani hooks up with him and later agrees to visit his home, a mega mansion, for a one-off unrestricted sexual performance. A day later, Ani’s enthusiastic performance impresses the Russian visitor so much that he asks if she would be interested in a much longer engagement and get paid an even bigger fee. Sometime after they agree on the financial terms of the new engagement and spend even more time in the bedroom, the constantly inebriated and stoned Russian visitor makes a power play. They go to Las Vegas with several of his party buddies and, at the right time, he asks his date if she wants to get married. Just like that. As a wedding present, she would get a big diamond ring, too. At a tiny chappel that never closes, the two then officially become a couple.

But it is not too long before the powerful Zacharov family is informed about the Las Vegas wedding and their liaison in Brooklyn, a fake Armenian preacher (Karen Karagulian), receives an urgent order to have it annulled. Determined not to disappoint his boss, the fake preacher immediately dispatches two of his assistants (Vach Tovmasyan and Yura Borisov) to meet the newlyweds and wait for him to arrive so that they can begin working on the annulment. However, the groom runs away, while the bride refuses to cooperate.

Anora is broken into three acts, each as bad as the other two -- in a variety of different ways, too. For example, between sixty and seventy percent of the dialog is composed of F-bombs attached to meaningless lines of the kind that are exchanged during random street brawls. The only detail that makes these meaningless lines somewhat special is that they are usually uttered with heavy, often quite hillarious Russian and Armenian accents. Rather predictably, two of these acts devolve into intense, seriously vulgar shouting matches.

The characterizations are astonishingly poor. Eydelshteyn, the catalyst of all the drama, is a caricature, and no one who is even remotely familiar with how the spoiled sons and daughters of Russian oligarchs or mafia figures behave in public would take him seriously. His performance is a masterclass on how not to perform. Despite claims to the contrary, Madison’s performance is incredibly poor as well, so a modern Cinderella her character is not.

A film like Anora does not need to justify its existence by producing an important social commentary, but just so that it is perfectly clear, it does not have one. Madison’s character is fully in control of her fate, and she sells her body for cash because she wants to do it. When the rich Russian visitor comes along, she accepts to play his game and at the right time is thrown out of it. It is not pretty, but in this game, for girls like her who choose to play it, it is the most common outcome.

Baker’s direction is fittingly awful. The majority of Anora is simply a collection of unremarkable visuals producing unremarkable sequences, similar or identical to the ones that are present in cheap and rushed streaming productions. A select few even look like extracts from rough rehearsals.

Anora Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Anora arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

Anora is also available on 4K Blu-ray in this combo pack release. I viewed the film in its entirety on 4K Blu-ray and later spent time with the 1080p presentation of it on the Blu-ray.

I did not see Anora theatrically. However, I think that the native 4K and 1080p presentations exhibit all the strengths you would expect to be present on a very recent production. Delineation, sharpness, and stability are outstanding. Colors are great, too. Some are natural, but there are some sections of the film with prominent stylization as well. I compared several areas that appeared a tad flat on my system in native 4K and 1080p. I did not see a substantial difference. However, if I had to choose one of the two presentations, I would probably go with the native 4K presentation because the darker club footage, plus a few other areas, looks slightly more attractive. Delineation, depth, and even fluidity are very similar, even identical on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray. I suspect that only if you have a very large screen you will begin to notice that the 1080p presentation does not always match the quality of the 4K presentation. I did not notice any encoding anomalies on the Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Anora Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with small portions of Russian and Armenian). A descriptive audio, presented as Dolby Digital 2.0, is included as well. Optional English SDH subtitles are available for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless 5.1 track is quite active. During the parties and chaos later in the film, it may impress some viewers with its surrounded movement. However, dynamic intensity is difficult to judge because there is a lot of music that is utilized well and plenty of organic sounds and noises that flood various sequences from different directions. The exchanges are clear and easy to follow, but some of the accents are seriously thick.

Anora Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BLU-RAY DISC ONE

• Commentary One - this audio commentary was recorded by Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, and Drew Daniels. The overwhelming majority of the information that is shared details how and where various scenes were shot.

• Commentary Two - this audio commentary was recorded by Sean Baker and various cast members.

BLU-RAY DISC TWO

• Sean Baker - in this new program, Sean Baker discusses the conception and production of Anora. The program was produced in 2025. In English, not subtitled. (10 min).

• Sean Baker and Mikey Madison - in this new program, Sean Baker and Mikey Madison discuss the emergence of the latter's character, as well as the opening of Anora. The program was produced in 2025. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• "Anora": Stripped Down - this long program gathers raw footage from the shooting of Anora. Various cast and crew members comment on the work they do. In English, not subtitled. (68 min).

• Cannes Press Conference - presented here is footage from the Cannes Film Festival, where Anora won the Palme d'Or award. Sean Baker, Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, Vache Tovmasyan, and Drew Daniels are present. In English, not subtitled. (42 min).

• Mikey Madison and Lindsey Normington - this conversation between Mikey Madison and Lindsay Normington, moderated by dancer Laura Arbios, was filmed after a screening of Anora for sex workers and strippers at the Grove in Los Angeles on September 23, 2024. In English, not subtitled. (36 min).

• Deleted Scenes - presented here are several deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (8 min).

• Audition Footage - in English and Russian, with English subtitles where necessary. (15 min).
  
  1. Darya Ekamasova
  2. Vlad Mamal
  3. Luna Sofia Miranda
  4. Lindsey Normington
  5. Vincent Radwinsky
  6. Vanche Tovmasyan
  7. Ivy Wolk

• Trailers - Presented here are three trailers for Anora. In English, not subtitled. (7 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring essays by film critic Dennis Lim and author Kier-La Janisse, as well as techncial credits.

Anora Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When done right, trash films, and especially the ones that are fully aware of what they are, like Showgirls, can be very entertaining. Anora wants to be taken seriously while selling realism of the kind that you will discover in The Canyons. It has some of the most amateurish acting that I have seen in a critically acclaimed film, from any decade. If you have already viewed and liked Anora, Criterion's release should be on your radar. It offers an excellent presentation of it with plenty of bonus features. A three-disc 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack is available for purchase as well.