Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan
Director: Sean Baker
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 138 min

After sweeping 5 Oscars at this year's academy awards and around 107 awards and counting, worldwide, Anora comes to the screens as part of the Red Lorry festival package and is also playing on OTT. The film is basically a rowdier version of the ‘Pretty Woman’ construct and doesn’t cater to the fairy tale ending. It is basically about how great sex and drugs can color the way you think and after you’ve woken up to reality, harsh perspective changes take its place instead. Two cultures, two languages (English & Russian) and money, drugs and sex fuel this ‘Cinderella’ gone sour story that makes love a commodity, romance a bitter unreality and sex and marriage a game.

This film, like countless Hollywood fantasies, tells the story of how young people from different cultures fall in love while in drug induced fervor and then deal with the consequences once they run into obstacles. It’s a reality check on the fairy tale romance concept.