‘I want to see that movie’: Brighton Beach residents on Anora’s Oscar triumph
Mikey Madison called out the Brooklyn seaside setting on Oscar night. How did locals feel the morning after?Anora’s Mikey Madison may have won the Oscar for best actress, but the real star of Sean Baker’s madcap anti-love story was New York’s Brighton Beach.Situated on the southern shore of Brooklyn, next to Coney Island, the tight-knit Russian and eastern European enclave retains a midcentury, pre-gentrification charm. In the film, it is the fairytale setting for Madison’s Anora, a sex worker who falls for and marries the childish son of a Russian oligarch. When the honeymoon period abruptly ends, Anora’s husband runs away and leaves her the hostage of his father’s goons – and Brighton Beach’s boardwalk begins to feel more sinister. Continue reading...

Mikey Madison called out the Brooklyn seaside setting on Oscar night. How did locals feel the morning after?
Anora’s Mikey Madison may have won the Oscar for best actress, but the real star of Sean Baker’s madcap anti-love story was New York’s Brighton Beach.
Situated on the southern shore of Brooklyn, next to Coney Island, the tight-knit Russian and eastern European enclave retains a midcentury, pre-gentrification charm. In the film, it is the fairytale setting for Madison’s Anora, a sex worker who falls for and marries the childish son of a Russian oligarch. When the honeymoon period abruptly ends, Anora’s husband runs away and leaves her the hostage of his father’s goons – and Brighton Beach’s boardwalk begins to feel more sinister. Continue reading...