‘Anora’ Co-Star Mark Eydelshteyn On His Captivating, Charismatic Performance [VIDEO]

Six minutes into Sean Baker’s exceptional, critically-acclaimed Cannes-Palm d’Or-winning feature, Anora, the titular sex worker character, played by the bewitching Mikey Madison, begins entertaining an attractive, seemingly-wealthy 21-year-old Russian dude. Ani is charmed by him, as is the audience. She is so taken she breaks her own rule and give him her cell number. He calls. They tryst in his opulent mansion—where he’s so carnally eager he lightning-fast strips and does a naked backflip. They frolic with friends on Coney Island, and he ends up asking if he can buy her time for the week. She agrees and they have more sex, between his playing video games, of course. And, after a wild impromptu Vegas trip, they get married!

The only problem is he’s Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov, the son of a wealthy Russian mobster. And mommy and daddy are not very happy–to say the least–so they send over a couple of Russian goons/fixers to have the marriage annulled, Ani does her best to fight them off, but Vanya flees. And the goons and Ani embark on an odyssey to locate him. She is certain he will stand up to his parents. And we hope he does but are pretty sure he will not/cannot.

Ivan is played with captivating charisma by newcomer Mark Eydelshteyn. He’s this wacky, spirited force in the film that helps rocket each scene forward. And as much as Madison is deservedly in the awards conversation, Eydelshteyn should be as well. This is a role that could have easily been played as just another entitled brat paying for what he wants. Instead, the rising thesp imbues Vanya tons of humanity and pathos and plays him like an arrestedly-developed but sincere adolescent. It’s one of the most impressive newcomer performances of 2024.

Eydelshteyn, now 22, is a recent graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School. His film work includes Julia Trofimova’s Strana Sasha (The Land of Sasha), which bowed at the 2022 Berlinale. His Russian TV credits include the hugely popular series, The Monastery.

Anora is currently in theaters via Neon.

The Contending zoom-chatted with the energetic Eydelshteyn.