Directed by Sean Baker, Anora is a timeless masterpiece, a film that comes along once in a generation. A wild and unpredictable ride from start to finish, the film delivers the quality we’ve come to expect from NEON, a studio renowned for its exceptional lineup.
Ani, short for Anora (Mikey Madison), is an exotic dancer at a club in Manhattan. We’re introduced to her working her magic on clients and leading those susceptible to her gaze into private rooms. Unashamed to do what needs to be done to make money, she works on the side as an escort. On one fateful night, the club owner instructs her to take care of a high profile client that demanded a Russian speaker. That client was Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoiled young son of a Russian Oligarch. With her passable Russian (thanks to her grandmother), he takes a liking to Ani and their superficial connection takes them from the bowels of the strip club to a luxury home in the suburbs.
One of the many enjoyable things about this film was the amount of Russian infused into the script. As a polyglot myself, I enjoyed watching characters flow between English, Russian, and Armenian, expressing everything from massive confusion and disappointment to vulgar insults. The film’s Russian roots are in no small part thanks to actor and longtime Baker-collaborator Karren Karagulian, whose work with the director goes back to 2000. His marriage to a Russian-American woman from Brooklyn gave Baker his starting point for Anora.
The dancing, partying, and copious sex, are all just a warmup. A ridiculous level of drama and excitement to whet your appetite before the grand coup de grâce. But before you get anywhere near what sets the tone for the rest of the film, you’ll be strapped in for the wildest bender of your life. Having already been introduced to Ivan’s friends, Ani goes on the ride of her life over the course of seven days covering Coney Island excursions and ultimately a boisterous group trip to Las Vegas.
While she certainly was paid to accompany him for a week, there are signs of genuine enjoyment between the two. Away from the numerous sex romps, there was constant laughter that shone through with a certain child-like innocence that almost blinds you from their very adult hobbies. Madison does an excellent job in the first half of the film portraying the range of emotions Ani experiences. Because she’s with Mark’s character so often and is truly enjoying herself, you can read her body language in various scenes: Is this even real? Can it continue? How can he live like this? Ani eventually approaches Ivan with the latter and he advises her to google his father, Nikolai Zakharov. In a lightweight “Do you know who my father is?” move, she discovers that he comes from a wealthy family.
Hollywood has been pushing the envelope in the sex department and it almost appears like the studios have been racing to see who can go the farthest. We very easily see all of Madison throughout the film and in one scene, essentially all of Eydelshteyn too. I’m not the biggest fan of all the onscreen nudity that’s been dominating films in the past year with one exception: if it ties into the story. With Ani being a stripper/escort, it makes sense that sex is a part of the plot. I still think they could’ve gone with less but again, sex was how she made the bulk of her money so it made sense.
Toros (Karren Karagulian), Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), and Igor (Yura Borisov) play dual roles as figures of authority and providers of sidesplitting dialogue. Toros was charged with Ivan’s overall care, but dispatches Garnick and Igor to handle Ivan’s affairs when he’s busy. When Ivan’s behavior begins to spiral, word of his erratic behavior makes its way to Russia and forces Toros to intervene. The writing for these three was absolutely sensational and are a big part of what make the film so special.
Anora gets a 9.5 out of 10. I truly feel like the Palme d’Or was just the start for this film—awards season should be kind to it. The foul-mouthed Mikey Madison is magnetic in her role as Anora; the heavy New York accent was the icing on the cake. The comedy from Karagulian, Tovmasyan, and Borisov was electrifying and worthy of acclaim. The ending was unexpected but made perfect sense. If you have a chance to catch this in theaters I’d highly advise it. You won’t even notice the film is 139 minutes.
The film is rated R for strong sexual content (again, she’s a sex worker), graphic nudity, pervasive language, and drug use. Again, not a big fan of all the graphic nudity rolling around in films these days, but at the very least, it made sense here.
Anora premieres in theaters on Nov. 1, watch the trailer HERE
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of NEON