3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Anora

2024, Sean Baker (The Florida Project) -- Amazon

There is something inherent in my ad nauseum recollections of That Guy in that I have been Not That Guy for longer than I was ever him, both early in life and after whatever twist in spectrum drew me away from movies that meant something. I read a bit about Sean Baker and recall there was a time when I would have known exactly who he was and had been drawn to him, and his works. All I need are a few paragraphs from Wikipedia and I am sure of that, and yet That Guy was from the pre-Internet era (for the most part) so how would I have learned of him, and his work? I can only say that in the pre-Internet era, information was more curated, and "useful information" dominated over the dross. These days I am more likely to watch a cute cat video, or a cooking segment, or a clip of a terrible driver, than I am to watch a segment about a ground breaking film director. Whose fault is that? The Internet's or mine? I am most definitely a product of today's social media and the Internet in general, as it has dominated my experience (likely more than most) for much of my thinking life.

Anywayz, summation -- maybe should watch more Sean Baker? Conclusion; probably won't.

Anora is an Academy Award Winning Movie, something that not even That Guy felt beholden to, but it was also a dark horse of that year, but it won: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. That's a lot of acclaim. And I can agree, it is an impressively well constructed movie with incredible performances. And so much happens in the movie, and yet, not so much. Ani and Vanya meet, she's a stripper who is not above a bit of sex work, they connect, they get married and then the whole thing gets derailed when Vanya's parents get wind of it. Yet, wow.

I am not going to do my usual half-assed attempt at a recap, just dive into my thoughts.

The first bit of the movie was odd to me. It felt fast-paced, disjointed, more stream of consciousness than plot development. Ani the stripper meets Vanya the peter pan, the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. We never learn what exactly Vanya's family does, but in one of the many flip-the-table on expectations, there doesn't seem to be anything overtly criminal here. His family is not the Brighton Beach Russians from all the crime movies, just uber wealthy. And he is in America to do nothing but enjoy himself in only the way someone with unlimited wealth can do. 

Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn, Guest from the Future) meets Ani (Mikey Madison, Better Things) in the Manhattan strip club she works; she recognizes a good catch and he becomes enamoured. That was the next turn of expectations, in that Ani is not the Pretty Woman everyone tried to sell this as; she's a hard working sex-worker. There's no denying that; she's a stripper who elevates to prostitution but at her own pace. The club she works at does not reign over her, there is no abusive pimp, she's not hooked on drugs nor does she owe money nor is she being trafficked. This is a character outside the Hollywood norms.

Also, this ain't no Cinderella story.

The first act, fast paced and frantic is really just a setup. Things really get going when the couple return from Vegas, married stereotypically drunken Vegas-style. They throw about the words, say they love each other, and you almost believe them. Almost. You could believe it was actual love, and that love overrules all, if this were that kind of Hollywood movie. But as soon as Vanya hears that his parents are flying from Russia to deal with the "situation", he bolts. He literally runs away. He abandons Ani to her fate.

Ani and Vanya's love is transactional. It begins literally so, but eventually, when she at first becomes exclusive and then when they admit feelings and spend all their time together (she actually quits the club), it is still always about something to be gained. There is never any doubt that Vanya is giving Ani access to his wealth and lifestyle, and Vanya, a hairless man-child (not sure I can accept he has reached the "man" stage yet) is getting an "education" from Ani. 

A rude awakening, for Ani, comes at the hands of the Zakharov family "fixer" Toros (Karren Karagulian, Red Rocket), and his pair of thugs Igor (Yura Borislov, Guest from the Future) and Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan, Lost and Found in Armenia). At first she sees this all as dramatic interference, that once they catch up with the traumatized Vanya, he will make it all right for her. But they do, and he doesn't. Confronting her is as much something he doesn't want to do, as confronting his parents. And then it is solidified when they Zakharovs arrive. Its not in any doubt that the marriage will end, that Vanya will return to Russia to begin his "real life", but it takes Ani a moment to actually get this. All of it, the love, the marriage, was a little boy playing at being an adult. And she was just playing at becoming part of the uber wealthy. In the end, after one final transactional event with Igor, she collapses in anguish. Real Life is hard.

Turning left, I was endlessly fascinated by Toros and the thugs. Again, I believe we are meant to (incorrectly) see them as they classic gangster thugs who toss violence and cash around and can accomplish anything. But even their violent acts are almost play acting -- at most, they mess up a candy store. They do not carry guns, they are afraid to do something that will have real ramifications, and they don't even have the weight of wealth & power to just magically make things happen. Toros is just Vanya's godfather tasked with making sure the boy is safe and doesn't do anything (too) stupid --- and he fails miserably at that. 

In the end, they only present the maybe one actually sympathetic character in Igor, the quiet thug who sees Ani for what she is -- strong, independent and someone Vanya was not worthy of. But again, this is no Cinderella, no Pretty Woman and there is no happy ending.... well, not the cinematic kind.

Kent's view.