Anora - Movie Review
Anora - Movie Review
Critics Score - 8 of 10
General Audience Score - 8 of 10
SYNOPSIS - The vibes of this wild ride kick off as the film opens with specks of red floating upwards across the screen and the club/party anthem song Greatest Day by Take That cues up and plays through the opening scenes. The camera moves left, out from behind a wall and we see a man sitting and looking up, dimly lit by a blue light. The camera is moving rapidly to the left and immediately after we see the man, a woman’s . . . behind is visible, wearing a thong and fishnet stockings. She is dancing for him, only her waist and upper legs are visible, her hands come down to her waist as she rotates her hips for the customer. As we continue to move down the row of private dance cubicles in this strip club, we see men sitting, watching mostly naked females dancing provocatively for them. The fifth girl we see is topless, arching herself backwards away from the camera, hovering over a seated gentleman. She raises herself up, twirling her hair in the blue and red lighting that combines to create a purple hue, and we see the face of Ani (Mikey Madison), otherwise called Anora, as she smiles and dances. The films title hits the screen in front of her. I don’t quite know why but this song and opening scene made me a bit sad. We watch her head and face as she plays with her hair and continues to dance a few moments until the scene cuts. Next she’s walking though the club she works at, saying Hi and being generally nice to the gentlemen until one shows interest at which point she takes them back for private dances. Later another dancer askes Ani, “Ani, when Robert was here the other night did he ask you for a dance?”, to which she says “Yes”, and that she danced for him. I guess strip clubs and sex work have their own brand of drama.
But within a few more scenes, a manager comes into the back and says there’s a request for Ani because she speaks Russian, there are some clients there who speak it. Anora goes out into the club that’s again doused in red lights and meets the very young Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), who introduces his friends and she chats with them for a few minutes about how terrible her Russian is but she can understand it well. Ivan vapes away and then suggests in his thick Russian accent they should have a toast to “their f***ing bad accents”, before going with her back to a VIP room. She dances for him privately but then back in the club he asks is she does any kind of house call. Anora puts her number in his phone and the next day, after we see where she lives and are introduced briefly to her roommate, she goes to pay Ivan a house call.
The house she arrives at is extravagant, it’s clear that Ivan, if not wealthy himself, has access to extremely deep pockets. Anora and Ivan have sex, but over the subsequent days, he continues to pay for her services and the two begin spending time together, her house calls becoming a regular occurrence. Eventually he invites her to spend the week with him and they agree on a price for her to drop everything and they spend the entirety of the time together. As their relationship begins to stabilize and they spend some of their days in Vegas, Ivan expresses an interest in just getting married to Anora, to which she agrees. The film hits a massive high at the end of the first act as the two young lovers climb the ladder of love. Any words I type here can only hope to scratch the surface of conveying the exhilarating emotions and exuberance that courses through one experiencing it. But the second two acts will undoubtedly hold some lows, especially for Anora, who has found what I suppose is what any young dancer can hope to find. A rich young guy who can care and support her, since looks will only take you so far in the outset of life before age catches up and takes it’s toll on one’s physical appearance. Once word gets out that Ivan has gotten married, family friend Toros (Karren Karagulian) and muscle men Igor (Yura Borisov) and Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) enter the picture to try and undo the damage Ivan has done with his reckless behavior. As Anora perceives the dream life she had envisioned slipping away, the frantic efforts of Toros and company continues to escalate in craziness as she fights to hold onto her ticket out of the life she used to have. It all leads to a finale that simply put is one of, if not the best conclusion of any film of the year.
Despite all the awards traction this film will be getting over the upcoming months, including some very possible Best Picture contender and maybe even front runner talk, this wasn’t exactly a masterpiece in my estimation. But it takes a special kind of direction and screenwriting to be able to land a film as hard as Baker lands this movie, effectively sucking every ounce of air from the room you’re in as the screen cuts to black. That feat alone puts the film into a level of excellence that few movies can ever hope to reach. Directing and writing nominations are easily in store for each of the aspects of Sean Baker’s work here. The script has a balance of humor, manic highs and earth crushing lows that it navigates while allowing us time to ruminate with these characters as they ride the waves of the screenplay and slowly embrace their plight. Even though it can certainly be argued that we may spend too much time with them, there are some periods the film slows down and some viewers may begin to disengage, as I did. There were at least ten minutes or so of screen time that could’ve been trimmed to assist in keeping the pace up a little bit through portions of the almost two hour and twenty minute runtime. As far as his directing, Baker also milks virtually every iota of talent from these actors along the way, he makes a strong case for his eventual director nomination. Like I mentioned at the outset, the efforts of this cast, led by the stellar work of Mikey Madison, is truly exceptional. We buy every look of elation along with every scowl, frustrated grimace, dejected frown and the myriad of other nuanced emotions her face embodies throughout the film. Yura Borisov, although playing a smaller role in the film, is also given time to shine as his character goes along this rollercoaster of a journey with our main protagonist(s). The technical aspects of this film are mostly serviceable, the cinematography is good, providing enough flare to make a decently pretty film. While the editing was also adequate, despite that final cut being just a jaw dropper, there are some scenes that could’ve been trimmed down a bit more or removed completely for the sake of pacing. Bottom line is this film will take home Academy Awards, which ones and even what that says about its excellence is up for debate, but the fact that it’s in the conversation says quite a bit about it’s overall merit. While this might not be my favorite movie of the year, it’s up there with them and is one of the most engaging and entertaining pieces of cinema of 2024.
SUMMARY - This movie will absolutely charm the socks off the audiences that vibe with it, which will be the case for a majority of viewers. While it’s a total trip for the first act, Anora has more on her mind than just a simple party high and riding the chaotic and exhilarating wave with her isn’t likely to be an experience you’ll forget anytime soon.
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