ANORA
(The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5-15 and HtN has you covered once again. Check out Chris Reed’s Anora movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
In his last three features—Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket—director Sean Baker has proven himself extremely adept at soliciting great performances from mostly little-known actors and at crafting incredibly tense moments of thrilling drama. His latest, Anora, though it has a story unlike its predecessors (which were also each narratively unique), shares with them some of the same cinematic DNA and masterful mise-en-scène. Trafficking in sleaze and quasi-exploitation as has increasingly become his wheelhouse, Baker still hits certain almost-profound beats, even as the movie features a little too much reckless mayhem to fully resonate beyond the amusing plot machinations.
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival jury (which changes every year) awarded Anora the Palme d’Or—the top prize—and so that means that cinephiles both serious and casual should consider the movie as a potentially grand work of art. At the very least, it is rousingly entertaining. It’s also a bit of a mess, both by design and in spite of itself.
The titular character—who prefers the shorter nickname Ani—works as a stripper in a New York City nightclub patronized by both tired looking older men of some means and, occasionally, very wealthy younger guys sowing wild oats. Played by Mikey Madison (Scream), Ani is both hard-edged and soft as butter, seeming to melt in the company of her clients. It’s a good business strategy.
One night, into the club comes Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn, Strana Sasha)—or Vanya—the son of an unimaginably rich Russian oligarch. Ani’s manager sends her to Vanya because she can speak Russian. Well, she kind of speaks Russian, as her grandmother taught her; she is hardly fluent, yet understands more than she can say. Her few words are nevertheless enough to impress Vanya, and so he asks for her phone number to meet outside the club.
It turns out Ani is a full-service sex worker, and when she visits Vanya at his waterfront mansion in Brooklyn, they have the best of times. At least he does. For now, this is only business for Ani. But little by little, she gets pulled into the fantasy world of money, drugs, and alcohol, as well of just enjoying life like it’s a constant party. So what if Vanya is feckless and spoiled? What’s wrong with having fun?
Eventually, they land in Vegas. And what happens in Vegas? Don’t worry, we can talk about it here. Sin City makes it ridiculously easy to get married, and when Vanya impulsively proposes, Ani accepts; not before negotiating for a very large diamond engagement ring, however. She’s never completely lost to the dream not to think of getting hers.
And that is when the movie completely changes. It’s one thing for Vanya to spend his parents’ (probably ill-gotten) fortune on fun and games, it’s quite another to get married to, as they call Ani, a prostitute. That’s too much to bear. Suddenly, goons and heavies come into play, all to force annulment. To say it doesn’t go as planned would be an understatement.
The raucous revelry and chaos ensure a nearly constant forward propulsion, particularly once the wedding news makes it to Mama and Papa. Instead of bloody violence (there is some of that, too), Baker leans into a comedy of errors. The result is quite the joyride, the anarchy of onscreen madness like a shot of espresso (more like twenty) in our veins.
The actors all shine, with Madison a riveting lead. Of especial note is Yura Borisov (Compartment No. 6) as Igor, the muscle hired by Vanya’s godfather to help out. He proves a lot more sensitive than no doubt he, himself, thought he would be, impressed with Ani’s spark and willingness to fight back. Although he begins as an antagonist, by the end he has morphed into something else entirely.
Unfortunately, notwithstanding the many fine elements at work in Anora, the script sometimes fails to go much below the surface level of the narrative. Madison gives it her all, but Ani remains a bit of a cypher beyond her desire to make money; Igor grows more as a character than she does. The film also, despite its clear entertainment value, runs a little too long and takes a little too much pleasure in its brutality and nudity to fully rise above its exploitation roots. But if a romp with a thin layer of complexity is what you’re looking for, Anora will do.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
Toronto International Film Festival; Anora; Sean Baker
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