With Neon being on a hot streak lately, it only makes sense for their studio to team up with indie darling Sean Baker. Read more for our full Anora review.
This Anora review was made possible thanks to an early screening on October 13 from the historic Music Box Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
Over the past five years, Neon‘s films, Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall, and now, Anora, have all taken home the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. All of these films are arguably modern-day classics, and Anora might be the one that’s resonated with me the most emotionally.
What is love? Everyone has a different definition of it and what it looks like. Is love paid for one-sided sexual acts? Is love buying gifts? Is it making spontaneous decisions? Or is it how the person makes you feel? Do they treat you like nobody has before? Sean Baker has been one to make incredibly honest films, and Anora might be his most authentic yet as we follow the odyssey of a sex worker’s insane courtship with a client and tackle the theme of what love truly means to the titular character.
Anora follows Ani (Mikey Madison) a 23-year-old full-time stripper and part-time sex worker, looking to be swept off her feet from her mundane nights of searching for clients at the club she works at, HQ. Fatefully, one night, she meets Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), a 21-year-old son of a Russian oligarch who might be Ani’s ticket out of her dead-end job. They soon strike up a courtship that blurs the lines between transactional and mutual, until they make a drastic choice that sends Vanya’s parents (Darya Ekamasova & Aleksey Serebryakov) on their way to break the young couple apart.
Taking the basic setup of Pretty Woman and slapping an R-rated realistic spin on the narrative, Anora is a foul-mouthed and refreshing romantic comedy that will leave audiences still thinking about the film long after the credits roll. As soon as the film begins, Take That’s Greatest Day of My Life (Robin Schulz Rework) blasts setting the clublike atmosphere. Then, the camera pans across numerous strippers doing their jobs until we finally reach Ani, enjoying her job as an older man slips her a $20.
The authenticity of the performances is felt immediately from the opening scene, as many of the other dancers working alongside our titular character are real-life strippers themselves. Being famous for casting what he calls ” first-time actors, ” Baker finds people he meets that he believes will be good for his films, regardless of their occupation. It’s incredibly admirable of him to make his films this way, and they’re all the better for it as their slice-of-life nature is always a sight to behold.
As the film progresses, Ani’s Cinderella story is threatened when Vanya’s caretakers come looking for him after word spreads of their relationship. The leader of the crew is Toros (Karren Karagulian) who is absolutely fed up with Vanya’s nonsense, screaming at everyone in his path to try and find him before his parent’s arrival. Then, there’s Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), a foolish man who constantly embarrasses Toros’ operation. Lastly, there’s Igor (Yuriy Borisov), a man who initially terrifies Ani, but seems to break through to her in the latter half of the film.
As this crew searches for Vanya, it becomes apparent that Toros will stop at nothing to get the job done. Particularly in one scene where he parks in the middle of Coney Island, only to return hours later to his car being towed, in a fit of rage, he climbs behind the wheel of his vehicle and pulls away from the truck, removing its front bumper as he shouts for the gang to get into the car, as they drive off. With its drastic tonal shift from hilarious romantic comedy to Uncut Gems 2.0 may be jarring for some, but my sold-out screening and I were all on board as the 725-seat auditorium was a cavalcade of laughter from start to finish.
The final act of the film takes a more somber approach as the consequences of their relationship catches up, and Madison’s performance truly shines as her hardened New York attitude comes down, and we begin to truly understand what the character has wanted all along. Baker’s endings always pack a punch, and Anora is no exception as its somber approach perfectly caps off its neon-lit whirlwind love story, and might be his strongest ending yet. Earlier in the film, Ani gets told that she’s like Cinderella, swept off her feet by her Prince Charming Vanya, as the first act plays out like a fairytale, Baker reminds the audience how this fable would end in our world with a heartbreaking final scene that proves to the audience that Madison’s performance is awards-worthy.
Anora is an undeniable masterpiece, its cinematography by Drew Daniels perfectly captures the feeling of young love whilst punching the audience in the face with the cold reality of the world, with Baker’s hilarious and touching screenplay perfectly complimenting his complex performances beautifully crafted by this wonderful group of actors. Sean Baker once again is able to show another underlooked group of people by giving them an authentic story with pristine filmmaking to complement it, as he crafted his best film to date which is easily one of the best of the year.
Anora was written, directed, and edited by Sean Baker, starring Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Yuriy Borisov, Darya Ekamasova, and Aleksey Serebryakov.
Neon will be releasing Anora in NYC/LA on October 18, 2024, before expanding nationwide on November 1, with limited-time 35mm engagements in select theaters.
Thanks for reading our Anora review, for more reviews stay tuned for our upcoming coverage of Chicago International Film Festival.
