Anora
A Review

A close up still from "Anora" showing a character dancing in blue light

Directed by: Sean Baker

Starring: Mikey Madison & Mark Eidelstein

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 2 hr 19 min

Rating: 8.5/10

“Anora”, the latest release from Neon, is a comedy/drama/pseudo-romance written and directed by Sean Baker. The film introduces the titular character, twenty-three-year-old “Ani” Mikheeva (Mikey Madison), as a stripper and sometimes escort whose life changes one night when Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eidelstein) parties at the club she works at. Since Ani understands Russian, she’s sent to his table, where the massively wealthy twenty-one-year-old becomes infatuated with her. The two hit it off, and he offers her $15,000 to be his girlfriend for the week, kicking off a string of enjoyable debauchery that ends with them getting married in Vegas. However, it turns out Vanya is the son of powerful Russian oligarchs who crack down on the marriage and demand it be annulled. The film follows the two lovers–and the Russian henchmen sent to force the annulment–as they learn about each other’s true selves and motivations. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the trailer on Neon’s YouTube channel, check out  Poor Stuart’s Guide for a list of local, independent cinemas and showtimes, and DON’T keep reading because there are spoilers!!

Anora holds an impressive 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 4/4 from AP news, and an 8.5/10 on IMDb. 

The film is split into two distinct movements. The first is a euphoric high; Baker gives us an extended montage of twenty-somethings living it up the way only twenty-somethings can but kicked up to the astronomical level made possible by access to unlimited amounts of money. The scenes dip from glittery neon to rooftop pools to private jets, all against the background of a nearly saccharine pop anthem and inane, amusing chatter. In between are moments of sweetness between Vanya and Ani, but it’s sweetness that rings hollow. She lies in his lap watching him absorbed in video games; he tells her he loves her when she teaches him that sex can be slow and sensual as opposed to his persistent jack-hammering; she fully embraces the role of attentive house-wife even in the face of his ambivalence. There’s the feeling that she could be anyone and he would have the same glossy detachment, a sentiment confirmed in the second act when he, wasted, gets a lap dance from Ani’s work nemesis and professes love for the latter. 

The second act begins abruptly when Vanya’s parents send henchmen Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yuriy Borosov) to force the two to annul the marriage and bring Vanya back to Russia. After a heated argument, Vanya ditches the entire group, leaving Ani to argue with and physically fight the two bodyguards while she insists that their love and marriage are real. The men finally offer Ani $10,000 to annul the marriage. She reluctantly agrees although something in her eyes suggests she believes that if they can only find Vanya, he’ll convince everyone of their legitimacy. The three of them, along with Toros (Karren Karagulian), Vanya’s godfather/local priest, set off to scour the city in search of him.

This second movement is gritty and grounded. As the characters slowly lose their stereotypes (with the notable exception of Vanya), we begin to see their depths. Rough edges are smoothed a bit, and Ani’s vulnerability and naivety become clearer, even as she is simultaneously a shrewd businesswoman and deal-maker. The pace works well, with dusky, frigid shots of Coney Island and close-ups of Ani’s striking features enough to keep the audience aesthetically engaged, the darkness and desperation of each character interrupted by punchy and believable humor. It’s a hangover from the champagne tower of the first half, but the kind of hangover that brings clarity in its sharpness and uncompromising rawness. The setting neatly matches Ani’s emotional journey as she navigates the knife wound of utter betrayal. Yet through it all, there are moments of sweetness and tenderness; in Ani’s uncompromising self-embodiment, in Igor’s gentleness toward her, in the pockets of life they dip in and out of during their search. 

There’s not one weak performance in the film, with the small exception of Ani’s rival, Diamond, whose bitter ire toward Ani feels somewhat unearned, and whose actress, Lindsey Normington, doesn’t carry off convincingly. Eidelstein’s performance is wonderfully frenetic and perfectly captures the immaturity and detachment of someone who’s never had to work for anything. His boyish, glib demeanor that initially seems so charming quickly turns grating as the movie progresses and we see he has no depth or integrity. And of course, Madison’s performance glows. She captures the rawness of a woman in her early twenties, at once as street-smart, tough, and self-protective as she is hopeful and here for a good time. There’s a wonderfully down-to-earth moment where Ani refuses to get on the plane to Vegas to annul the marriage and says she’s essentially going to sue the shit out of Vanya’s parents, only for the next cut to show her with them on the plane mid-air. Elements like these take the film from a one-dimensional story about generic empowerment to one that more intimately explores the nuance of class and gender. Realistically, Ani knows she doesn’t have the money or resources to go up against a family like Vanya’s and she either walks with $10k or nothing. 

It’s easy to interpret the ending of “Anora” as a sort of indulgent “Pretty Woman “captain-save-a-hoe” trope.  But peel back the urge to jump to conventional framings and it’s possible to find a different interpretation, one that shows the immense amount of emotional stress and whiplash Ani has been through. From riding the highest of highs and developing real feelings toward someone she thought felt the same, to the crash of being abandoned by that person, slut-shamed, profiled, and threatened by his parents, and attacked by men she doesn’t know. She’s only twenty-three, and although society tends to view sex workers in a dichotomy—either scheming, money-grubbing temptresses or victims with no other avenue to turn to—it’s a helpful reminder that actually (shocker) sex workers are just people, navigating many of the same emotions, complexities, and challenges as the rest of us.

“Anora” is a deceptively simple film. At once a meditation on the Russian-speaking communities in New York, offering us intimate glimpses into a side of the city that’s not often on camera, and a show-don’t-tell masterpiece that illustrates what happens when people’s self-constructed facades crack and shift, “Anora” guides us along the path of navigating environments new and old, and asks us to take the time to glance into the corners of life and of people we don’t always choose to see.

 

Written By
More from Executive Editor
2018 in Movies
As the Oscars approach, we take a look back at memorable movies of 2018
The 91st Academy Awards take place on February 24th, 2019. To reflect...
Read More
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *