Anora

Sean Baker’s Anora carries on his neo-realist portraits of sex workers in crisis, and it’s one of his funniest, saddest, and most dramatically satisfying films yet. It plays out like a modern version of Pretty Woman, but far grittier, honest, and more emotionally raw. Pretty Woman was charming but obsessed with status and fortune; it played out like a modern Cinderella or romantic fantasy. Baker’s film, on the other hand, deconstructs these tropes and subverts the romantic fairy tale into a portrait of class and economic misfortune. Told from the perspective of a stripper and told with no- judgment like his previous films, Baker’s film is empathetic and joyful, moving and disheartening, with impressive tonal shifts that bounce between romantic comedy and dramatic character study.

Mikey Madison is heart-stopping as the title character Anora, who goes by “Ani” for short, gorgeous as can be, who has a tough side and can be rough around the edges. She’s a Russian American stripper at a gentleman’s club in New York City, spending her time at the club at night and making a substantial amount of money by doing strip teases and lap dancing for male patrons, drinking alcohol, and enjoying her job while making good money during a brilliant opening montage. One night a very wealthy young patron named Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) happens to come into the strip club Ani works at. He requests for a Russian stripper; the club owner introduces him to Ani, and he’s immediately enchanted by her. Ivan is full-blooded Russian, has some broken English, and is very wealthy, as he reveals he’s the son of a very wealthy Russian oligarch. He requests Ani to speak Russian, which she can speak some of the language, but she can understand better than speaking it after being raised by her Russian grandmother when she was a child. Ani is flattered and enamored by his wealth by Ivan (as Ani calls him Vanya); he also brings out an even more exuberant side, and she gets to get a glimpse of what being wealthy and prosperous really feels like. They are both around the same age, but Ivan acts like a 14-year-old boy as Ani acts more her age as they enjoy each other’s company.

Courtesy NEON

Ivan ends up offering her $10,000 to spend a week with him, which would be more than what she would make at the nightclub, and they end up making a lot of love, attending parties together, going shopping, and Ani for once gets to live the high life of luxury and fortune. They end up going on a spontaneous vacation together with Ivan’s other friends out in Vegas, and they spend time together in luxurious hotel suites, go gambling, swim, and get intoxicated. They surprisingly agree to get married in Vegas, and they both seem to find great joy in their company. In many aspects, both characters are living out some fantasy they never dreamed of. For Ani, it’s the prosperity and luxury that she always yearned for after growing up in a working-class background where she has to use her body as currency.

For Ivan, he has the demeanor and psyche of a horny teenage boy having a girlfriend experience of his life with Ani. But fortunately, Baker does not depict this romance as a contrived screwball comedy or formulaic romance. Ani’s quick romance with Ivan is short-lived and is filled with a lot of sudden anguish. Especially once Ivan’s American guardian Toros (Karren Karagulian—a Sean Baker regular) is informed by Ivan’s parents that they received rumors that Ivan got married to Ani and that she is a “prostitute.” Toros ends up sending two Russian stooges, Igor (Yura Borisov) and Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), to Ivan’s house to demand answers and to quickly get an annulment on the marriage before Ivan’s wealthy parents, Nikolai (Aleksei Serebryakov) and Galina Darya Ekamasova, arrive to the states. This raises a lot of questions on what kind of man Ivan is; once the henchman arrives, Ivan runs off and doesn’t fight for Ani, making it impossible for Ani to see him fully as anything more than a man child.

Courtesy of Neon

This is when Ani’s true identity of Anora comes in. Her roots are shown, her grit, her endurance, and strength show through. She can mostly hold her own, even when she’s outmatched in the power dynamics by wealth and psychical strength, she is combative enough and holds enough street smarts to assert himself. In a way she even beats up Igor and Garnick, which baffles Toros who is distraught after Ivan abounds his home which causes them to go out at night to try to find him. Each of them ends up at a standstill and Ani is defending her freedom to love Ivan, as Garnick insists that the marriage is impossible and will never be approved by Ivan’s parents. She’s caught in a trap, and they all agree to go out through New York City looking for him so they can talk out the logistics on the next steps of either maintaining the marriage or getting annulled. The second half of the film plays out like Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, where it’s mostly nocturnal as it starts off in early evening in Coney Island where Igor bashes up Ivan’s favorite candy shop as they try to pry the owners his whereabouts. Together they go from various places, restaurants, clubs, bars, and even strip clubs that Ivan enjoys. Ani/Anora finds herself subject to being coerced against her consenting wishes, as it appears Ivan has submitted into the demands by Tores and Ivan’s parents. For Ani/Anora she is caught in a trap, and in many ways, you see a great character arc with her character, as well as for another character that I will not spoil here. Let’s just stay, my expectations were defied and the unexpected bond that grows between Ani and the other character is done with so grace and holds a very moving payoff that had tears rolling down my face.

There’s one striking moment after the other in this film. This is all part of Mikey Madison’s magnetic performance, and she embodies her role in this film so authentically. She is hopeful and broken, and we really care for this character. Baker, who has made many great films with great compassion and care with such titles as The Florida Project, Tangerine, and Red Rocket, has always been devoted to subcultures and delivering characters we seem like taboo (prostitutes, strippers, and adult film actors), and he brings a nuance to their characters that truly shows these people working in these professions for what they are—human beings that deserve dignity, and Baker always delivers engaging stories where you always find yourself invested and caring about his characters. Baker has always specialized in building these characters, specifically Mikey Saber in Red Rocket and Halley in The Florida Project, characters who are trapped in alternative lifestyles of desperation, not of their making, and whose choices worsen their lives. They all yearn for a better life, and while the American Dream is way out of reach of them, it’s an essential problem in our socioeconomics. Baker once again explores class and status in this film, and that is what makes it so heartbreaking: how Ani for once gets a glimpse of it, for it only to evaporate within minutes based on the forces of other people’s choices outside of her own.

Courtesy by Noen

Sean Baker is easily one of the greatest American filmmakers to emerge in the new century. He is not only a great storyteller but a great craftsman as well. He creates films with natural locations and creates vivid worlds in which he builds great compassion in hopes the audience can understand his outsider characters. We may never understand these characters’ lifestyles or professions, but the narratives they are in always unfold with dignity and grace. The greatest moments can happen, and sometimes they are short lived, like Halley having a delicious breakfast at a country club with her young daughter Maddie towards the end of The Florida Project or Ani going to Vegas with Ivan. And so, while it feels like a modern version of Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria—and, indeed, Baker has once again built a splendid masterpiece that resonates with deep compassion and humanism. Baker touches the heart, mind, and soul. I doubt I’ll see a stronger film this year.

ANORA opens in limited theaters on Friday October 19th, it opens Wide on Friday, November 1st