Anora

Anora is billed as a Cinderella story, a bit of a misleading description for a film that feels more like a cautionary tale against whirlwind romances with the wrong person. Producer, writer, director, and editor Sean Baker has a thing for creating independent films about immigrants and sex workers, which puts Anora right in his comfort zone. His earlier film, The Florida Project, brought him to my attention back in 2017, gave him some Oscar clout and made him a name to watch out for. Unfortunately, that potential felt lost with his follow-up film, Red Rocket, which had its fans in critic circles but opened to non-existent box-office numbers. Anora, while not a box-office smash, is getting more recognition from audiences and the expected boost from those who follow the Oscars. Still, it is a modest success at best, and there are some good reasons why people are shying away from it.

We get the tone of the film right from the opening credits. Right away, we are being overwhelmed with images of exotic dancers, lap dancers, and the whole sex-industry imagery of Brooklyn, New York. This film doesn’t shy away from graphic nudity, and it is on full display in these opening titles. People these days tend not to like a film with opening titles because it delays them getting into the story proper. Some films have compensated for this by having the titles be part of the plot, while others, like the James Bond franchise, boldly stick to their classic structure. This film chooses to fill its titles with imagery from a soft-core porn film, letting you know you are in for a raunchy movie that would be quite a bit uncomfortable to experience in a public forum. Instead, this film will play much better in the privacy of your home. 

All of this erotic imagery is there to set up the rags-to-riches element of the Cinderella story. It introduces us to Anora (Mikey Madison), an exotic dancer who gets drawn into this story for the simple reason that she happens to speak Russian. One day at the club, Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), a wealthy but immature son of a Russian oligarch, is in attendance and makes a request for a Russian girl. Anora’s boss makes the introduction, and the two hit it off right away. Vanya asks if she works outside of the club, and she gives him her number. Thus begins a working relationship as he pays for evenings with her, then a full week. Finally, he flies her to Vegas, where they get married. 

All of this draws the attention of Vanya’s family, who send out a couple of toughs to separate the two and end this foolishness. Things go downhill, and Vanya flees his family’s mansion, leaving Anora behind with the thugs. His family insists that the marriage is annulled, but since they cannot find Vanya, it makes it difficult to make it happen. Anora’s refusal to cooperate isn’t helping the situation, either. Her insistence on fighting back in the face of heavy opposition and ignoring the warning signs that she is in over her head make her one of the most head-strong and ignorant women in modern cinema.

Despite what the poster says, this is not a love story. It is a story about lust and immaturity. Vanya has clearly been spoiled his whole life and takes nothing seriously. This makes him an unlikable character, and he never crawls out from under that. All he thinks about is drinking, doing drugs, partying, having sex, and playing video games. Because of his complete and utter arrogance, there is nothing to relate to with him, even after he has been cowled by the arrival of his parents. By association, the same thing goes for Anora herself. She is bratty, selfish, and falls for this obviously childish young man in such a way as to show her own immaturity and lack of critical thinking. She seems to believe that this is a fairy tale come true, marrying a rich kid like this, and has no concept of the consequences of going against the family. She takes offense to being called a prostitute even though that is exactly what she has been doing, selling her body for money. She has gone well beyond the boundaries of exotic dancing. 

Because both leads are so unlikable, it leaves me with no one to root for and no one to care about. That makes the drama of the story tedious and boring. Only when the two thugs, Igor (Yuri Borisov) and Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan), show up does the story start showing signs of life. A third man, Toros (Karren Karagulian), brings some much-needed levity to the proceedings without feeling like he is artificially inserting humor. He is the only character I liked in the entire film because he is so relatable having to deal with such stupidity and stubbornness all around him. The comedy comes naturally from him as these three, Anora unwillingly in tow, go out looking for Vanya. This road trip around Brooklyn goes on for too long but is easily the best part of this film. Toros injects a level of urgency and determination to the whole ordeal that makes it feel like the stakes may be mortal if he fails to find the boy. He also gets opportunities to take jabs at youth culture and the present-day work ethic. 

As funny as this part of the movie is, it still goes on for too long. And that is the same complaint I have for every aspect of this film. There is no reason it should be nearly two and a half hours long. Every moment is repeated over and over again to the point where it loses effectiveness. For the first hour of this movie, every other moment is punctuated by Anora and Vanya in the act of having sex. This starts out erotic, then gets boring, then it becomes humorous because it keeps cutting back to it like a porn film where every beat must be punctuated with another sex scene. If that is what you are looking for, then this film will deliver, but realistically, if that is what you want, then just go out and watch some porn instead. 

This film is getting rave reviews from critics, which is head-scratching to me. I didn’t find any of it enlightening or inspiring, and I could see the ending coming from a mile away. Nothing about it really worked for me, and while I can admire Mikey Madison’s daring performance, her character just didn’t work for me. She’s still stuck in that Quentin Tarantino Once Upon a Time in Hollywood mode where she is physically cute but ultimately unattractive because of her mindset and actions. I couldn’t feel for her, and thus the film left me cold and unimpressed. This was one of the 2024 films I was looking forward to the most, which is why it is such a disappointment that I didn’t enjoy it hardly at all. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, and Sean Baker (won)

Best Director: Sean Baker (won)

Best Actress: Mikey Madison (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Yura Borisov

Best Original Screenplay: Sean Baker (won)

Best Film Editing: Sean Baker (won)

____________________________________________________

Release Date: October 18, 2024

Running Time: 139 minutes

Rated R

Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov

Directed By: Sean Baker