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| Writer/director Sean Baker |
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| The director on the set |
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| actress Mikey Madison |
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| actors Yura Borisov and Mark Eidelstein |
ANORA C+ USA (139 mi) 2024 ‘Scope d: Sean Baker
Today this could be The greatest day of our lives Before it all ends Before we run out of time Stay close to me Watch the world come alive tonight…
—released in 2008, Take That - Greatest Day (Single) YouTube (3:56)
A film about the putrid stench of toxic male patriarchy in both America and Russia, the two superpowers dominating the global landscape, told through an unlikely subject, a young female exotic dancer who thinks she’s hit the jackpot, the realization of all her dreams, only for that dream to be ruthlessly snatched away from her, like ripping her heart out. In the 1950’s, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall all used their external charms to lure a rich husband in Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) or Jean Negulesco’s HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953), an era when it was common for men to support women through marriage, a concept this film subverts, yet respectfully pays homage to at the same time, where the dream is the same. Reminiscent of the works of Ernst Lubitsch or Billy Wilder, it’s told in a screwball comic manner with rapid-fire pacing and streams of profanity-laced dialogue, a horribly ugly and grotesque display of raw, unfettered power and how easily power corrupts, with a sweeping landscape of Brighton Beach, also known as “Little Odessa” due its tight-knit Russian and Eastern European communities, where this delves into moneyed pockets of Russian culture, as seen through American eyes. What sets this apart is the lack of any identifiable characters, where it’s hard to empathize with people you don’t really care about, and this is a lengthy odyssey into narcissistic people who don’t really give a shit about anyone else but themselves, becoming a hedonistic journey into a false paradise, as epitomized by Sin City, Las Vegas, and then having to deal with the wretched consequences that literally becomes a hell on earth. From the maker of Starlet (2012) and The Florida Project (2017), Baker’s characters believe in an illusory American Dream that has abandoned them a long time ago, exposing the underside of that façade, where failure and social upheaval are intrinsically linked to his working class aesthetic, creating films free of any superficialities that accentuate those on the lower rung of the economic ladder, providing insights into the lives of people who live on the edge of urban spaces, addressing issues of social injustice, poverty, and the consequences of economic instability without romanticizing or condemning his figures, continually finding new ways to get audiences to empathize with people they may otherwise disregard. All the hype surrounding this film, coming after winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes (where he dedicated the award to “all sex workers, past, present, and future”), with a jury led by Greta Gerwig, tends to send all the wrong messages, as this is an obnoxious expression of unprecedented arrogance on display, where the bullying behavior is simply abominable, which is tragic enough, yet ugliness and an unending sadness permeates through every frame of this film, though it’s couched in wild exhibitionist humor, where the grotesque, Ruben Östlund-like satiric exaggeration seems to be an accelerant, like starting a fire you can’t put out. For those who seem to think this audacious screamfest is among the best films of the year, and there are many, it only makes you wonder what kind of abusive crap they’re used to seeing, where theaters are just filled with nearly unwatchable movies these days, spewed with incessant violence that is massively inflicted upon viewers, becoming a new desensitized normal in today’s society.
Opening with a five-minute sequence set in a New York strip club with a remix of the British boy band Take That from the 90’s blaring on the soundtrack, Take That ft. Calum Scott - Greatest Day (Robin Schulz ... YouTube (2:43), offering a sarcastically sunny and hopeful vibe, as Ani (Mikey Madison) works the room, flirting with guests and leading them to the VIP area at the back to perform private lap dances, moments filled with gratuitous sex, nudity, and other party activities. Basically this boils down to a long hip hop music video filled with drugs, booze, flashy cars, and naked women, shot by Drew Daniels on 35mm, accentuating bright neon colors, like something we’ve already seen in Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), a fast track lifestyle that has an instantaneous appeal, but quickly wears out, attracting a wealthy segment of society that drops $100 dollar bills like there’s no tomorrow. In the private rooms, Ani holds all the power, no matter how affluent the customer is, though the moment she leaves the club, the power dynamic flips on its head and the status quo is restored. You’d think the powerhouse, once-in-a-lifetime performance by unheralded actress Mikey Madison, who had a bit part before being unceremoniously killed off in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019), might be the saving grace of this film, from the conspicuous Brooklyn accent, a variation of Marisa Tomei in MY COUSIN VINNY (1992), to uncontrolled outbursts of rage, to completely vulnerable moments, where real intimacy is perhaps too painful for her, which may be why she has chosen a profession that allows her to safely keep her distance. The actress learned to speak Russian and literally spent months visiting Brighton Beach sex clubs while preparing for this role, while also drawing upon Andrea Werhun’s book Modern Whore: A Memoir, a collection of original stories inspired by the author’s adventures in the sex industry, but it’s not nearly enough, as it’s clear from the start that everything is a mirage, that it’s all a lie, so it’s really no secret where this film is heading, taking us into a dumpsterfire where there is no escape, as you’re going to get burned. Seemingly cut from the same cloth as the Safdie brothers Good Time (2017) or Uncut Gems (2019), dysfunctional family crime dramas with a frenetic pace to them, and while it’s an exhilarating ride, it lacks their sense of joyous adventure, existing in a place where the boundaries between delusion and reality seem to be blurred, leaving you emotionally drained and empty afterwards, sorry you ever treaded into this territory. There are no subtleties and no time for tenderness, instead it’s a brash expression of unending selfishness, where the horror isn’t sexual violence, or even the dread of danger lurking in the dark, it’s the baffling naïveté of immaturity that holds such a central position, like a weight over everyone’s heads. As if awakened from a fever dream of spending one’s last night on earth before it explodes, this is a story where everything you once knew is gone in an instant, leaving you wandering the ends of the universe alone, stuck in a purgatory of what might have been, where it’s not only bitter, but bittersweet. This is not the prettified, sugar-sweet fairy tale of Julia Roberts in Garry Marshall’s PRETTY WOMAN (1990), as there’s nothing funny about the gutless moral vacuousness and sweeping social vilification that is the heart of this film, where there is such an obsessional yearning for prosperity, with all the safety and comfort that brings, yet the raw, explosive style of uninhibited energy on display hides the inevitable reality that awaits us in this nihilistic tragicomedy, taking us down a road to nowhere where all that’s left is unending bleakness and emotional despair.
Ani is a brashly confident, fiercely independent Russian-speaking stripper who is often sent to entertain high-rolling Russian clientele, which is where she meets Vanya (Mark Eidelstein), an impetuous son of a Russian oligarch billionaire, quickly getting caught up in a whirlwind affair, Feeling the Chemistry in New ANORA Clip with Mikey ... YouTube (4:27), where the kid is a party animal that surrounds himself with beautiful girls, vaping drugs, and nonstop alcohol, living in abundance without ever taking responsibility, yet when she’s invited to a private appointment at his opulent home, a full-windowed waterfront mansion with maid service and private security, she can’t help but be impressed, ANORA (2024) Clip | Sean Baker, Mikey Madison YouTube (54 seconds), thinking this is a window into a whole new world. When he pays her $15,000 to be his exclusive girlfriend for a week, they run off to Las Vegas where they actually get married, as she’s infatuated by the luxuriousness of his accommodations and his flashy lifestyle, Anora | Clip | NYFF62 YouTube (1:14), believing that’s her ticket out of the cheap and sordid lifestyle she’s been living. When word in Russia gets out through social media that he’s gotten married, his parents send in the cavalry to intervene, with a bunch of Armenian goons quickly putting the kibosh on these shenanigans, blowing a hole in their fantasy world, suddenly forced to deal with unpleasant people who take offense by her presence, immediately assuming she’s contaminated his life, viewed simply as a scheming whore that must immediately be sent packing and the marriage annulled. It’s a startling shift in tone, leading to a stream of organized chaos, a mix of calamity and catastrophe, utilizing slapstick comedy that borders on the ridiculous, yet the cruel and demeaning treatment of Ani is a given, as she’s simply viewed as a completely disposable nobody, dealing with her in the same manner as all their other problems, where they agree to pay her off to go away. But she doesn’t do so willingly, becoming a huge pain in the ass for this family, hell-bent on fire and fury, so when Vanya bails on her and runs away at the first sign of trouble, she’s forced to deal with them all on her own, and while she puts up a struggle of epic proportions, displaying a surprising tenacity, she is steamrolled by the power they command, as highly influential people are on their payroll, while Ani has no one. Basically treated like shit, she’s eventually forced to capitulate to the inevitable reality that she can’t win this battle of class privilege, as the moneyed interests are just too much, though there are absurd interactions, continuous screaming, and somewhat exaggerated fights, where the real movie is that viewers can see her in a way no one else does, as she’s unequivocally human, literally stripped of her humanity, yet the overall framework of the film is a zany fast-talking comedy until it slows down for a quietly memorable final sequence blanketed under a fresh coat of snow. The film takes its cue from Fellini’s NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (1957), where a sex worker and hopeless romantic keeps picking the worst kind of men to get attached to, pouring her hopes and dreams into a guy, only to come to the slow realization that he’s a pathetic disappointment. The unending bleakness of this film is unmistakable, despite the roller coaster ride of ever-shifting emotions, feeling one-dimensional, however, as it’s not particularly innovative and is actually quite predictable over a lengthy running time, never probing beneath the surface or wavering from the central theme that an incessantly exploited Ani is left lost and alone.
