November 28, 2024
FILM: ANORA
DIRECTED BY: SEAN BAKER
STARRING: MIKEY MADISON, MARK EYDELSHTEYN, YURA BORISOV
RATING: 4 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
You may have heard by now that Anora is one of the leading contenders for the Best Picture Oscar this year. It won the top award at Cannes in May, the Palme d’Or, and has been a major festival hit since then. Finally getting the chance to see it myself, I can say that yes, the film deserves all the praise it’s been getting. This is a crazy romp of a movie that lands itself as one of the best screwball/romantic comedy/dramas in recent memory.
Ani, whose real name is Anora, is a sex worker in New York City. One night she meets Ivan, a young, rich, spoiled Russian who develops a major fondness for her, which of course means he is able to heavily pay in cash for her companionship. On a whim, they fly to Vegas where they take their relationship to another level. What follows is a dramatic and comedic attempt by Ivan’s family to end the relationship as soon as possible. Ivan’s parents are on their way back to New York from Russia but have contacted three men to get the job done. One is conducting a baptism in a church, another is duty bound but highly prone to personal injuries, and the other is the quiet, silent one who may be the most level-headed and considerate of them all.
The direction by Sean Baker is brilliant. How he is able to orchestrate some of these scenes is nothing short of amazing. Many of them involve fights, physical action, and things breaking with biting overlapping dialogue. It’s quite an achievement.
Baker directs his actors to play broad while creating amusing and distinctive characters. Mikey Madison has been getting most of the attention for her lead role as Ani and she is quite good. The early scenes require her to physically move and sound like a friendly, attractive sex worker. Later she has to toughen up big time while simultaneously becoming the victim and assertive captive woman.
Mark Eydelshteyn is the floppy haired Ivan who some have referred to as Russia’s Timothee Chalamet. I think of him as this generation’s Dudley Moore from the film Arthur. While considerably younger, his cartoonish movements and silly squeaks are very big, broad, and fast-paced. He’s a modern rich kid who only cares about sex, drugs, and video games.
The rest of the cast is equally superb playing their tough and comedic roles. Yura Borisov is the quiet Igor who’s face registers the fascination and caring he feels for Ani’s predicament. The direction of his arc is unexpected but Borisov handles it with subtle and effective strokes that slowly reveal who he is as a character. All of these actors should be in line for the Screen Actors Guild’s Best Ensemble award as well as similar prizes from other awarding bodies. Watching this film, I was reminded of the great cast involved in the wild hijinks found in other screwball comedies, such as Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 film What’s Up Doc? Mind you, this film has a lot more drama in it than such genre films typically do, but it requires all actors to balance between the physical and dramatic moments of some very high energy scenes.
Those of you that might have seen Sean Baker’s film Tangerine might remember a very funny physical scene in a donut shop near the end of the film. Anora takes that tone for one standout 28-minute scene in the middle of the film that is endlessly entertaining to watch. He also has moved beyond donut shops to stage his darkly comedic scenes in a beautifully designed New York mansion and a Vegas hotel with extravagant pools, bars, and wait staff.
There will no doubt be viewers who are turned off by all of the sex scenes in the early parts of the film as well as the amount of physical violence and profanity that appears soon after. I get that. This is definitely a film that might push the limits in ways that other modern directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson’s also do. But I really enjoyed the ride. Given the characters and the worlds in which they inhabit none of it felt overly gratuitous to me.
Anora is currently playing in limited theatrical release.
FILM: ANORA
DIRECTED BY: SEAN BAKER
STARRING: MIKEY MADISON, MARK EYDELSHTEYN, YURA BORISOV
RATING: 4 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
You may have heard by now that Anora is one of the leading contenders for the Best Picture Oscar this year. It won the top award at Cannes in May, the Palme d’Or, and has been a major festival hit since then. Finally getting the chance to see it myself, I can say that yes, the film deserves all the praise it’s been getting. This is a crazy romp of a movie that lands itself as one of the best screwball/romantic comedy/dramas in recent memory.
Ani, whose real name is Anora, is a sex worker in New York City. One night she meets Ivan, a young, rich, spoiled Russian who develops a major fondness for her, which of course means he is able to heavily pay in cash for her companionship. On a whim, they fly to Vegas where they take their relationship to another level. What follows is a dramatic and comedic attempt by Ivan’s family to end the relationship as soon as possible. Ivan’s parents are on their way back to New York from Russia but have contacted three men to get the job done. One is conducting a baptism in a church, another is duty bound but highly prone to personal injuries, and the other is the quiet, silent one who may be the most level-headed and considerate of them all.
The direction by Sean Baker is brilliant. How he is able to orchestrate some of these scenes is nothing short of amazing. Many of them involve fights, physical action, and things breaking with biting overlapping dialogue. It’s quite an achievement.
Baker directs his actors to play broad while creating amusing and distinctive characters. Mikey Madison has been getting most of the attention for her lead role as Ani and she is quite good. The early scenes require her to physically move and sound like a friendly, attractive sex worker. Later she has to toughen up big time while simultaneously becoming the victim and assertive captive woman.
Mark Eydelshteyn is the floppy haired Ivan who some have referred to as Russia’s Timothee Chalamet. I think of him as this generation’s Dudley Moore from the film Arthur. While considerably younger, his cartoonish movements and silly squeaks are very big, broad, and fast-paced. He’s a modern rich kid who only cares about sex, drugs, and video games.
The rest of the cast is equally superb playing their tough and comedic roles. Yura Borisov is the quiet Igor who’s face registers the fascination and caring he feels for Ani’s predicament. The direction of his arc is unexpected but Borisov handles it with subtle and effective strokes that slowly reveal who he is as a character. All of these actors should be in line for the Screen Actors Guild’s Best Ensemble award as well as similar prizes from other awarding bodies. Watching this film, I was reminded of the great cast involved in the wild hijinks found in other screwball comedies, such as Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 film What’s Up Doc? Mind you, this film has a lot more drama in it than such genre films typically do, but it requires all actors to balance between the physical and dramatic moments of some very high energy scenes.
Those of you that might have seen Sean Baker’s film Tangerine might remember a very funny physical scene in a donut shop near the end of the film. Anora takes that tone for one standout 28-minute scene in the middle of the film that is endlessly entertaining to watch. He also has moved beyond donut shops to stage his darkly comedic scenes in a beautifully designed New York mansion and a Vegas hotel with extravagant pools, bars, and wait staff.
There will no doubt be viewers who are turned off by all of the sex scenes in the early parts of the film as well as the amount of physical violence and profanity that appears soon after. I get that. This is definitely a film that might push the limits in ways that other modern directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson’s also do. But I really enjoyed the ride. Given the characters and the worlds in which they inhabit none of it felt overly gratuitous to me.
Anora is currently playing in limited theatrical release.