Rent Anora (2024)

Madison is great but the story & characters leave an extremely bitter taste - Anora review by Timmy B

Sean Baker truly is an independent film titan, in many ways an American Danny Boyle or Nicholas Winding-Refn. Mainly making films shot on a shoestring budget (whilst Anora is the exception to this, it's $6 million dollar pricetag is still small change in the grand scheme of things,) he populates his stories with many highly idiosyncratic & feisty characters, predominantly sex workers or people tangentially connected to the industry.

But for me, whilst he has attracted huge acclaim from many film reviewers, I felt quite differently. Whilst I loved the ability & chemistry between the child actors & Willem Dafoe's cranky motel manager, The Florida Project was not the masterpiece I was lead to believe. Following on from this, Red Rocket was another case of beautiful production & colour palette combined with a protagonist who wasn't charming, funny or someone you wanted to spend nearly 2 hours with. So when Anora won pretty much every award going & swept the Oscars, I was interested to watch it, but also skeptical.

We follow Ani (Anora,) an idealistic & extremely motivated stripper who works at a seedy club & clearly is meant for better things. One day, she is requested by her boss to entertain Vanya, the spoilt & revolting son of a Russian oligarch, primarily because she speaks his language. This encounter goes from a private dance at the club to going round to his parents mansion, then Ani being offered a massive sum of money to pretend to be his girlfriend for a week. During these 7 days, consisting of non-stop partying, drug-taking & every type of revolting behaviour imaginable, Ani falls in love with, then agrees to marry Vanya. However, this shotgun wedding horrifies his family, who dispatch their goons to break up the union & drag Vanya back to Russia.

This film is saved by Mikey Madison. If she had not been cast, this film would have absolutely floundered. As much as a couple of the supporting characters are funny, she is the feisty & genuinely believable center of the story. And her fearlessness is on screen from the opening moments, with multiple scenes of nudity & intimacy, which she totally commits to, making Ani the fully fleshed-out character that Baker can write so well. I also really liked the motivation she had, combined with a street-smart & sharp tongue, especially towards a fellow poisonous stripper.

However, having said all of that, this film has for me a massive problem: despite Madison clearly giving it her all in showing the genuine love & committal Ani has for Vanya, she is made to look absolutely idiotic by his behaviour. Vanya is a total & complete scumbag, petulant and so narcissistic it makes your eyes water. He is totally supported & reliant on his parents wealth for everything, and would be nothing without it. And having set Ani up as a streetwise & smart woman, the film then asks us to do the most ludicrous mental juggling act possible of accepting that she would not only be blinded by love, but genuinely believing that this creature had hidden depths & wasn't just shacking up with a beautiful woman who he met whilst on a night out.

And I couldn't get past this hurdle. Baker's determination to try & make us believe this, even after Vanya flees when his parents mobster buddies turn up, rapidly runs out of road. And the more hysterical Ani gets insisting this love is real simply adds to the idiocy. There are some funny moments, as well as a great character in the shape of Igor, who brings so much to the role of the lunkhead hired muscle.

When we finally get to the end, there was no massive pay-off, although the final scene was touching in the sense of showing how someone reprehensible could make amends for their previous actions. It was all just a bit "meh."

I am absolutely glad that Sean Baker is creating these types of films, to counteract all the crap released en masse by the studios. However his choice of characters leaves a lot to be desired.

Not Pretty Woman (at all)... - Anora review by TB

Comparisons could be made to Pretty Woman (sex worker meets very wealthy guy, they get together etc), but that is as far as the comparison goes... Anora is a completely different animal.

I think you could describe this film as having more of a sense of realism; but that aside, the plot and narrative are good, and the main character (played by Mikey Madison) is very engaging, and she rightfully won awards.

Recommended viewing.

Seriously - Anora review by MK

It's prostitute, not sex worker. Please don't subject your customers to this PC guff. We are not all Guardian readers.