Anora, by Sean Baker, is one of the most exciting films I’ve seen this year. It’s funny, it’s romantic, it makes you happy and makes your popcorn taste 50 times better. It’s so entertaining and fresh!
It’s whacky but realistic, it remembers that while life can go in any random direction, you’ll find love, hope, anger, disappointment and, most importantly, humor everywhere.
It’s not an obviously queer film, but it’s queer in the way Baker’s camera finds itself in New York. I find myself looking up to the found family trope in the second half when things regularly go south for our lead–Anora ‘Ani’ Mikheev, a young girl from a Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn. She’s a sex worker who doesn’t believe in the term sex-worker for herself. She’s smart, funny and charming in a way that it makes sense why she’s lowkey everyone’s favorite (even if they seem to hate her).
Not A Regular Sex-Worker Story
This was my first ever Sean Baker film, I never really had the chance to watch his previous works like–The Florida Project, Red Pocket, Tangerine and several others. My only anxiety overall about the film was the subject–sex work. I know that Baker is famous for his nuanced portrayal of various minorities and marginalized communities.
And I tell you what, laughing along to the story of a head-strong, smart sex-worker was not on my 2024 bingo card.
Ani’s story starrs the gorgeous, extremely funny and punchy Anora (Mikey Maddison), the cute, man-child, typical rich guy Ivan/Vanya (Mark Edyelshteyn) and Igor (Yura Borisov), our secondary, quiet leading man who stole the show towards the second half.
Movie starts with settling us into Ani’s life, we’re shown how she works, scouts her clients and makes her way through the club seamlessly. There’s no pitying Ani for her career, there’s no need, because we know she’s good at it.
I do sense an odd fear at the back of my neck, thinking, “will cis-het men understand Ani’s autonomy?”. Seeing some of the film-bros review the film next morning on their IG stories, showing off their LetterBoxd, they’re not too happy with it.
The thing is, I understood Ani, I understand her autonomy and places where she is quite powerless. But I kept holding myself back seeking permission to laugh with Ani. There’s this set understanding of movies that have sex-workers. They’re either girlboss peaks with layers of troubled back stories and sad endings or they have no power whatsoever. The endings are usually sad and highlight that she was good despite being a sex-worker. Sean chose to show none of that. We don’t know who Ani used to be, we don’t have a clear answer as to why she likes calling herself Ani instead of Anora (besides the fact that she just likes it), we know her mom lives in Miami but nothing about her relationship with her.
They’ve spelled out that the film is not about who Ani was or will be, it is about this one chaotic romance in her life, that leads her somewhere new for the time being.
…And It’s So Funny
I want to be friends with Ani, she has a very typical online-Gen Z witty humor. She does not hold back while putting people in place. She does not care if they’re authority, she will talk back and you will shut up (and her comebacks are just gold).
It had been a while since I went to a theater and laughed with everyone present. It’s a known thing that Baker also includes elements of slapstick humor, which in the context of the plot, can be absurd. But let me tell you, I nearly choked on my popcorn laughing at some of the scenes.
For some context, Ani is introduced to Ivan/Vanya, son of a Russian Oligarch (families who accumulated wealth and property after the downfall of the USSR). He’s a trust fund baby high on something at all times. But Ani earns, flirts and pleases him to a point where he invites her to be his paid girlfriend for a week ($15000 to be exact). Vanya’s troupe of friends and Ani fly to Vegas, and party till Vanya and Ani impulsively decide to get married. Cue in the rose-tinted romance of Vanya and Ani.
However, it’s short-lived, because how could someone like Vanya marry Ani and face no consequences from his uptight, old-money family? Long story short, the major chunk of the second half is the sad and humorous tale of finding Vanya after he runs away from his American care-takers as his parents are on their way to America.
At this point you’d think, how is this a rom-com-drama?
The Unexpected Romance
Igor, our last minute hero dressed as an emo-jester is introduced as this calm-collected-crazy dude who just runs random errands for the Russian family. He’s tender, he’s smart and most importantly, does not care about things much but cares for his grandma and Ani.
He’s of course presumed to be gay (a lot of F-bombs were dropped) because of his nonchalant stance around women. But he’s got a game that annoys, comforts and wraps Ani in the much needed comfort she returns to after a long day of being herself.
She’s broken but Sean made sure it’s never for the art, her tears are never covered tragically in the club’s neon lights. They are shown in the car when she looks Igor in his eye (first time we see her look someone in the eye romantically) and it’s snowing outside. Her tears and thus vulnerability are where the movie and the popcorn ends and my tears begin.
