Anora Film Review – Awards Surely Await The Years Most Frenetic Release
Over the past ten years, Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Red Rocket) has quietly become one of the defining American filmmakers of recent times while exploring topics that usually get ignored by big awards ceremonies – the lives of those on the fringes of society, from transgender sex workers and retired porn actors to housing projects on the outskirts of Disneyland. His films are always vivid, vibrantly shot and frantically paced, and new release Anora has firmly placed itself in the middle of awards contention. A Palme d’Or at Cannes could very well be followed by an Oscar, and it would be well-earned.
Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time In Hollywood) puts in a bonafide, Oscar-worthy, star-making turn as the titular Anora (preferring the shortened ‘Ani’), a Russian-American stripper who also works as an escort on the side. One night, her club manager assigns her to a high-roller client from Russia, as she can just about speak the language despite preferring not to. The client is Vanya (Mark Eidelshtein), the 21-year-old son of a Russian oligarch who lives his entire life like a 13-year-old at home alone sick from school – playing Call of Duty, eating sweets and sliding across the floors like a gawkish Risky Business tribute act.
He represents an easy client, taking up only 15 minutes of his allotted hour and paying as much as she wants, to the point where you feel she only isn’t charging double out of disbelief at his feckless immaturity. The relationship between Ani, who craves financial security and Vanya, who has never had a relationship with anyone he hasn’t paid for in one sense, whether that be friends, bodyguards, random strangers at a New Year’s Eve party or his new wife, for the briefest of periods makes sense, and they impulsively marry in Las Vegas. Even if the expiry date is closer than the carton of milk she forgot to buy.
Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time In Hollywood) puts in a bonafide, Oscar-worthy, star-making turn as the titular Anora
If the first act plays out in a blur of a modern, knowingly ironic take on Cinderella, reality sets in in the second act, as it also turns into a farcical comedy. A trio of goons, in surely cinema’s best recent portrayal of the trope, are tasked with making the marriage disappear before Vanya’s parents land in New York and give the film its chaotic comedy. They are less hapless rather than weary at having to clean up yet another of the son’s messes, baffled at how to deal with Ani’s spirited verbal and physical retaliation, and petrified by what must be the very worst people to make angry – Russian billionaires.
Casting can often make or break a film, and Baker, who casts his films himself, is one of the very best at it, managing to unearth gems from apparent anonymity. Perhaps his greatest find here is the monosyballic Igor, brilliantly played by Yura Bolsov, whose quiet conscience gradually comes into focus. Cinematographer Drew Daniels beautifully matches the tonal shifts of the film, as the whirling, neon montages of the first act are replaced with something grittier. As ever, Baker excels in finding the beauty in the leaden Brighton Beach, and the darkness in the glitz of Manhatten. As with most films, whether or not it wins an Oscar has more to do with the voting base than the film’s quality, but the fact it’s touted as a favourite despite falling so far outside the usual wheelhouse is a testament to how the film is cutting through without Baker watering down the boldness of his previous films.
Cinematographer Drew Daniels matches the tonal shifts of the film, as the whirling, neon montages of the first act are replaced with something grittier
The film wouldn’t work half as well were it not for Madison’s performance, who is effervescent and human as a character gradually coming to accept the reality of the situation but still holding out hope for a fairytale ending. As Ani tries to hold her own, she is consistently met with the reality of the power imbalance she is up against. Small wins are quickly turned into crushing defeats, most poignantly when she tells Vanya’s mother she didn’t sign a prenup, and so is entitled to half of the family money. A fair point, and yet in return, she is threatened with total obliteration should she not relinquish to an annulment. With this Baker nods to the callous destructiveness of severe wealth; fairness doesn’t really matter when you can spend your way out of any jam.
The final act will divide opinion. Baker’s track record on endings is uneven – The Florida Project is an almost perfect film, with the last five minutes the only misstep. While most filmmakers would simply be content with steering the ship safely home, Baker decides to linger, slamming on the brakes of the propulsive pace of the first two hours. The 20-minute Coda is messy and morally grey, leaving the viewer unsure how they should be feeling. There is pathos and tenderness present, but it also refuses to shy away from the reality of where those who are so easily tossed aside can end up.
Anora is in cinemas now – see the other best films to watch this month.
