How the ‘Anora’ Ensemble Dances Between Comedy & Tragedy

As we prepare for the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, Backstage is breaking down this year’s film and television ensemble nominees for your consideration. 

Main cast: Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, Vache Tovmasyan
Casting by: Emily Fleischer
Directed by: Sean Baker
Written by: Sean Baker
Distributed by: Neon

They say making people laugh is harder than making them cry. Doing both simultaneously might be hardest of all. A film that ping-pongs between rigorous class drama and raucous physical comedy, “Anora” is the latest grounded fairy tale from Sean Baker—America’s premier kitchen-sink realist—and it might be his most accomplished work to date. 

“Scream” alum Mikey Madison is Ani, a boisterous Brooklyn sex worker who gets in way over her head with a man. The role was practically tailor-made for her brand of charming gusto, allowing her to become the story’s heart and soul.

However, each supporting cast member fills out the movie’s ludicrous margins with just as much aplomb and allure. Mark Eydelshteyn plays Ivan (aka Vanya), the bratty co-lead, who opens the door to a world of wealth and luxury for Ani. The spoiled, affection-starved son of a Russian oligarch, Vanya coasts through life on his parents’ cash, but finds genuine romance in what begins as a transactional dynamic. He and Ani are soon married, and they turn their union of convenience into one of genuine, youthful excitement—but they’re swiftly interrupted when Vanya’s family learns of his elopement and sends ostensible henchmen to get the marriage annulled.

Gangster goons are a dime a dozen, but in Baker’s world, no human being is without merit or dimension. This is especially true for the hoodlums who come to Vanya’s door, led by the Armenian fixer Toros—an anxious middleman whom Karren Karagulian fleshes out with a delightful balance of fear and loyalty toward his shadowy boss.

Accompanying Toros on this ill-advised job is his bull-in-a-china-shop younger brother, Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), and the young criminal Igor (Yura Borisov), who ends up feeling incredibly bad when he inadvertently kidnaps Ani, given how much of himself he recognizes in her. Borisov, while often saddled with silence, makes a meal of Igor’s reaction shots, and creates an entire character arc through his deliberate expressions alone.

The film’s drama and comedy exist shoulder to shoulder, thanks to scenes that come laced with examinations of class resentment. These force the characters to stew and take stock of their predicaments as they’re pressured by the ruthless hand of wealth and capital, resulting in narrative tugs-of-war between what they truly want to do and what they need to do in order to survive. All the while, the ensemble maintains a bustling energy, allowing the movie to transform into an extended comedy of errors verging on slapstick for lengthy periods. The line between comedy and tragedy is razor-thin, and the cast of “Anora” blurs it constantly, tapping into a wild and verbose energy that keeps the story moving like a freight train.