Even with all the profanity, nudity, graphic sex, and violence, Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’ is still a charming romantic-comedy that shows a mastery of tone. The film manages to present the love story between an exotic dancer and her young Russian client with such care that it allows the audience to laugh and marvel and cheer them on despite the transactional nature of how they met and the gross indulgence of the Russian youth’s wealth. It’s more gritty, sexually-charged and drug-laden version of a Cinderella story and it somehow manages to surprise us at every turn.
Anora (Mikey Madison), who prefers to be called Ani, is a 23-year-old stripper at a club. Her boss tells her to take care of their Russian guest as Ani can speak and understand Russian. The guest is 21-year old Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), a son of a Russian oligarch who is in the US to study. The two hit it off immediately and he asks Ani if she’s willing to come and work outside of the club. One night turns to two, and then he invites her to join him at a huge New Year’s Party at his place before he invites her to stay with him for a week. During this time, she’s introduced to his friends as her girlfriend and they fly off to Vegas where he asks her to marry him so he can be a citizen and he doesn’t have to return to Russia to work for his dad.
Unfortunately, when news of their marriage reaches Russia, Vanya’s dad sends his godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian) to collect the two, get them annulled and to prepare for Vanya to return to Russia. With his two goons, Garnick (Vache Toymasyan) and Igor (Yuri Borisov), Toros attempts to bring the newlyweds to heel but instead Vanya runs off leaving Ani to deal with the rest, whom she is able to handle on her own. When calmer heads prevail, the four now journey throughout the Russian community of Brooklyn to find Vanya and settle everything before Vanya’s parents arrive.
The film runs a bit over two hours, taking its time to establish the characters of Ani and Vanya and showing us that whatever we may think of the transactional nature of their relationship – the payment for sex, the drug use, the excessive partying, the lack of any adult responsibilities or accountability – that the two found some level of safety within each other. The film never shies away from the fact that Vanya is a rich tool and then Ani is looking at this as an escape from her sordid life, but the film treats it as real without hiding the fact that Vanya is paying for Ani’s company and that the two are probably using each other to run away from their problems. It’s the magic of director Sean Baker’s use of extreme close-ups and handheld shots that gives the film an almost documentary feel. He unabashedly shows us the drug use and the sex but juxtaposes it with the two youths feeling safe in each other’s arms (and in the luxury of Vanya’s seemingly unending supply of cash).
When all of this starts to crumble, Ani’s background and history comes to the foreground and we see her fighting Toros, Garnick, and Igor with all her might. And boy is she formidable. The 25-minute scene of their confrontation is a hilarious farce that shows off each actor magnificent comedic timing as well as their full use of their physicality to make that scene one of the most memorable scenes in the past decade. It’s funny and well-executed but it is also incredible in how it turns the whole movie over and shifts it from an R-18 rom-com into an odyssey. As Baker takes us through the ins-and-outs of the Russian community in Brooklyn, we get to see another side of America that is usually left out in all its usual Hollywood propaganda of how the US is the greatest country in the world.
It’s here where we realise that Ani is just another child of immigrants trying to find her piece of the American dream. She thought she found it in the arms of a son of a Russian oligarch but, instead, she faces yet another American truth: only the rich get richer, and everyone still has to pay their dues.
Madison and Borisov are so deserving of all the award nominations they’ve been receiving this award season. Madison keeps Ani from being boring or cloying or fictional. Borisov’s Igor is a powerful presence in the film by the way he just stands in the background watching everything unfolding, receiving the full brunt of Ani’s anger, and finding space for his own voice to serve as a wonderful counterpoint to all the madness going on in the film.
‘Anora’ is such a splendid movie with how it takes the Cinderella story and turns it on its head. It never shies away from universal truths about how unfair this world is; how the class divide knows no culture or border and how deep down inside, we all just want to be loved. It’s funny and poignant and dark and bright all at the same time. It’s such an enjoyable two hours in the cinema and it’s probably going to be in my list of favourites for years to come.
My Rating:
Anora is still showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.
