A-Directed by Sean Baker Starring Mikey Madison and Mark Eydelshteyn Review by Jon Kissel |  |
Sean Baker reaches a career crescendo with Anora, his Cinderella-meets-Uncut-Gems modern fairy tale that embodies the idea that movies are magic tricks. The viewer knows that they are sitting in a theater or at their home watching actors being filmed in a chaotic production setting that has no relationship to what’s happening in the camera, but they’re transported anyway to feel what the actor is feeling and take in what the director is pointing the camera at. Everyone agrees that it’s an illusion, and everyone plays along. That agreement is at the core of Anora’s story, where a Brooklyn stripper gets entangled with a Russian oligarch scion. He knows that she’s in the customer service industry, and she knows that he knows. Is there ever that magical cinematic transition of transfixing teleportation, where the falseness fades away and something else takes its place? While the viewer waits and watches for that moment onscreen, they feel it themselves over and over again through Baker’s anarchic, full-bodied, invigorating filmmaking.
Mikey Madison plays the titular character, though she prefers to go by Ani. The film begins with her working a shift, enticing customers with ease and yelling at her boss for the lack of benefits. This section is scored with a pop song about the ‘greatest day,’ a level of earnestness that someone like Ani can effortlessly fake as she hides her true feelings behind a mask of interest and joy. She knows that her clients will keep coming back if they think she likes them, despite that they surely know that the saddest man in the world is the one that thinks the stripper really likes him. Everyone implicitly agrees, everyone plays along. On a subsequent shift, her boss, knowing that Ani speaks Russian, points her towards a big-spending Russian who looks like he could be 16 but is nevertheless throwing a lot of money around. This is Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of an impossibly wealthy oligarch and a hedonist who’s supposed to be earning a college degree. They hit it off in a backroom suite, and Vanya wonders if Ani’s services are available off the premises. A torrid and profitable affair kicks off, culminating in a trip to Vegas where he convinces her to marry him, provided the ring is big enough. Word of their son’s nuptials inevitably gets back to Vanya’s parents, and they send their Armenian fixers to handle it.
Baker divides his film evenly into the time before and after Vanya’s parents discover what’s happened. That first hour is sheer ecstasy, especially in the context of it all being a kind of Turing test where the question is what is and isn’t legitimate. Baker provides multiple opportunities for Vanya to be a monster. He could be rude to the help, he could be offended when Ani gives him sex tips, he could be dismissive of her or the house cleaners, he could be furious when he loses a big blackjack hand, his friends could be useless leeches. Instead, Eydelshteyn plays him as an intoxicated puppy, humping everything and throwing money around for the benefit of Ani and his friends. Money is truly meaningless to him, which would be its own negative except for how much fun everyone is having. A film like Wolf of Wall Street had similar levels of conspicuous consumption, but there is hatred coming off the camera towards those consumers. Baker doesn’t bring that to Anora and instead revels in the happiness that money can in fact buy, at least temporarily. When that ‘greatest day’ song gets a reprise, it’s stopped being the kind of corny nonsense piped through strip club speakers and is accurately narrating what’s onscreen.
The carousel must inevitably stop, and in keeping with Baker’s tone, the impending halt comes in an unbelievably funny gag. When one thinks of the goons of a Russian oligarch, they don’t think of a man at a baptism reacting with such gasping surprise that he almost drops a baby. Number one fixer Toros (Karren Karagulien) makes a sound when he sees a picture of the marriage license that could only have been made by that actor. Fellow goons Igor (Yura Borisov) and Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) are just as compelling, either comically in the case of Garnik or emotionally, as Igor becomes the surprise heart of the film. The goons recognize the frustration of all parties, including their own as they have to solve a problem dictated to them from on high. That grace butts up against the inherent New York quality of every character, where all interactions are treated as a game of wills. As refreshing as the dedication to a comedic approach is, Anora reaches its most unpleasant section here, as the film starts to repeat itself and its 139 minutes feel like a dozen too many.
Barring the rare scene between goons, Madison is onscreen constantly and she holds focus like a mid-century ingenue. This role is pitched to make a star of whoever plays it, as Ani has to seduce the audience as surely as she seduces Vanya. Madison adds by subtraction, always leaving something behind. She has to be convincingly having a great time in many scenes, plus there’s the question of if her insistence on the reality of her marriage is a bargaining chip, which makes her fury at the goons something that can’t fully be trusted. There’s always the line between professional and emotional, and Madison never tips a clear moment when she crosses it, if she does at all. It’s an incredible level-up from an actor best known for prestige TV or for being immolated in Rick Dalton’s swimming pool, and Anora provides her with the springboard to the A-list.
Baker surrounds Madison with a combination of actors and non-actors, as he frequently does in his films. Some of the actors are recognizable, befitting the biggest budget he’s ever had, but it’s just as likely that the best lines come out of non-actors. Baker’s talent for getting exactly what he needs out of anyone, trained or not, speaks to his singular place in cinema. These are by far the wealthiest characters he’s ever put onscreen, including Ani herself, but the same humanity he brings to the semi-homeless underclass of The Florida Project or the down-and-outers living in the shadow of gulf refineries in Red Rocket applies to everyone here, too. When Vanya’s parents finally emerge, their marriage is still recognizable despite their disgusting wealth. Baker’s greatest, singular asset is that his heart is big enough for everyone that walks in front of his camera. A-
Baker divides his film evenly into the time before and after Vanya’s parents discover what’s happened. That first hour is sheer ecstasy, especially in the context of it all being a kind of Turing test where the question is what is and isn’t legitimate. Baker provides multiple opportunities for Vanya to be a monster. He could be rude to the help, he could be offended when Ani gives him sex tips, he could be dismissive of her or the house cleaners, he could be furious when he loses a big blackjack hand, his friends could be useless leeches. Instead, Eydelshteyn plays him as an intoxicated puppy, humping everything and throwing money around for the benefit of Ani and his friends. Money is truly meaningless to him, which would be its own negative except for how much fun everyone is having. A film like Wolf of Wall Street had similar levels of conspicuous consumption, but there is hatred coming off the camera towards those consumers. Baker doesn’t bring that to Anora and instead revels in the happiness that money can in fact buy, at least temporarily. When that ‘greatest day’ song gets a reprise, it’s stopped being the kind of corny nonsense piped through strip club speakers and is accurately narrating what’s onscreen.
The carousel must inevitably stop, and in keeping with Baker’s tone, the impending halt comes in an unbelievably funny gag. When one thinks of the goons of a Russian oligarch, they don’t think of a man at a baptism reacting with such gasping surprise that he almost drops a baby. Number one fixer Toros (Karren Karagulien) makes a sound when he sees a picture of the marriage license that could only have been made by that actor. Fellow goons Igor (Yura Borisov) and Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) are just as compelling, either comically in the case of Garnik or emotionally, as Igor becomes the surprise heart of the film. The goons recognize the frustration of all parties, including their own as they have to solve a problem dictated to them from on high. That grace butts up against the inherent New York quality of every character, where all interactions are treated as a game of wills. As refreshing as the dedication to a comedic approach is, Anora reaches its most unpleasant section here, as the film starts to repeat itself and its 139 minutes feel like a dozen too many.
Barring the rare scene between goons, Madison is onscreen constantly and she holds focus like a mid-century ingenue. This role is pitched to make a star of whoever plays it, as Ani has to seduce the audience as surely as she seduces Vanya. Madison adds by subtraction, always leaving something behind. She has to be convincingly having a great time in many scenes, plus there’s the question of if her insistence on the reality of her marriage is a bargaining chip, which makes her fury at the goons something that can’t fully be trusted. There’s always the line between professional and emotional, and Madison never tips a clear moment when she crosses it, if she does at all. It’s an incredible level-up from an actor best known for prestige TV or for being immolated in Rick Dalton’s swimming pool, and Anora provides her with the springboard to the A-list.
Baker surrounds Madison with a combination of actors and non-actors, as he frequently does in his films. Some of the actors are recognizable, befitting the biggest budget he’s ever had, but it’s just as likely that the best lines come out of non-actors. Baker’s talent for getting exactly what he needs out of anyone, trained or not, speaks to his singular place in cinema. These are by far the wealthiest characters he’s ever put onscreen, including Ani herself, but the same humanity he brings to the semi-homeless underclass of The Florida Project or the down-and-outers living in the shadow of gulf refineries in Red Rocket applies to everyone here, too. When Vanya’s parents finally emerge, their marriage is still recognizable despite their disgusting wealth. Baker’s greatest, singular asset is that his heart is big enough for everyone that walks in front of his camera. A-
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