tiff24: 'anora' review

By Nadia Dalimonte

Mikey Madison in Anora

From Starlet and Tangerine to The Florida Project and Red Rocket, filmmaker Sean Baker has become one of the most insightful storytellers of America’s outskirts. Baker’s films give marginalized groups a voice without patronizing or exploiting their authentic experiences. Focused consistently on sex workers, he writes well-rounded characters with agency and individuality in their stories. He directs with humanistic sensibilities, which help to erase the stigma that adult work often faces.

Baker continues to meet the lives of sex workers with compassion in his latest, Anora. The film explores the American dream from a two-sided coin: a powerful family afforded everything at their disposal, and an independent young woman caught in the crossfires who rightfully pursues a better life. This dual narrative embeds a satisfying, energetic, often funny picture with reverberating melancholy. The fairytale of Anora unfolds through Baker’s authentic voice. He anchors a lively whirlwind fantasy in the aching reality of who gets to keep dreaming, and who gets left behind. Led by a magnificent Mikey Madison, whose performance should make her the brightest star, Anora embraces the independence and vulnerability of a young woman coming of age.

The film introduces Anora (Madison) at a Manhattan nightclub called Headquarters, where she works nightly as an exotic dancer. Going by Ani, she effortlessly scans a floor full of men and leads them each into private rooms. Ani joins a micro-community of female dancers whose artistry is on full display; the opening montage of their various dances sets an energetic tone and immediately establishes a kinship towards them, Ani especially. From her astute observations of male clients' needs to her thoughtful interactions with them, she knows how to play the game. She also recognizes this livelihood as a hustle and will seize the opportunity for her Cinderella story.

When an excitable rich Russian kid named Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein) walks into the club, Ani's Russian background gets her assigned to cater to his needs. She tells him she never speaks Russian but decides to do so in this case, letting her guard down. As the two form a connection, he whisks her away from Headquarters, and her life takes an enchanting turn. Ivan lives in a mansion (afforded by being the son of an oligarch) and enjoys a lavish lifestyle Ani could only dream of having. The more dates Ani and Ivan go on, the deeper she falls not for his money, but for the gratification that being with him means she can leave Headquarters behind. Ivan asks if they could be exclusive, and one impulse leads to another until they dash to a Vegas chapel.

Ani always wanted a Cinderella honeymoon suite, and it comes at a depressing cost. As she works hard to reach what Ivan takes for granted, the carriage gradually transforms into a pumpkin. Baker draws out the facade for as long as possible, creating a destructive slow-burn drama. The film unravels into a chaotic spell of crushed dreams at the hands of a rich kid's tantrum. Baker's script deftly balances the two very different sides of Ani and Vanya's relationship: the former opens her heart and mind to the potential of a new reality, while the latter bleeds his entourage dry and runs from accountability. In Vanya's eyes, Ani is a token he can gamble. For Ani, Vanya represents a bigger and brighter future. When his truest colors show, the film morphs from a romanticized whirlwind romance to an estranged relationship drama about class divides and the poignant bonds formed through quiet solidarity.

Baker finds an incredible anchor in Mikey Madison to convey the protagonist’s downward spiral. Ani is the viewer's way into a world of dashed dreams and harsh realities. Madison plays the character with such conviction and fearlessness, that one immediately feels excited by her ferociousness and concerned for her fate. She conveys a person's heart being broken in real time, trying so adamantly to hide how hurtful it is to lose each piece. Madison fills Ani with remarkable nuances and moments of small revelations, where one can sense she carries an emotional weight deep down. Her work gives the film's ending a reverberating impact and urges the viewer to reflect on Ani's journey.

In addition to Madison's star-making turn, the supporting cast of Anora brings various compelling energies to the story. In a standout scene of Vanya's henchmen Garrick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) "breaking in" to his house, the entertaining sequence plays out like a slow-motion thriller. Baker fleshes out Garrick and Igor's personalities; they are hesitant to keep acting on behalf of the Vanya family’s representative Toros (Karren Karagulian). All three actors bring fantastic comedic sensibilities to the film. Their interactions often unravel into a comedy of errors and shed light on the ridiculousness they have to put up with to cover Vanya's antics. 

With Anora, Baker approaches a larger scale of filmmaking with his same core sensibilities. His focus on under-explored communities and empathy for stigmatized individuals give this story tremendous heart. Ani might be whisked off her feet, but the film is planted firmly on the ground with tenderness. Electric and sorrowful, Anora paints an aching picture of the humanistic costs associated with the luxury of dreaming.