ANORA
(****)-VITO CARLI

"...it starts out fun and positive and at a certain point-things get dark and stay dark..."

This Generations Pretty Woman

(121924) Anora is a lively, lovely, sometimes ugly film that tells the story of a working girl who dances in a strip club. Earlier this year the film won the Palme d’ Or the highest prize at Cannes Film Festival and it was the first American film to do so since Terrence Mallick’s The Tree of Life (2011).

There have been several notable portrayals of exotic dancers in films such as Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel (1930), Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire ('41) and Melanie Griffith in Fear City ('84), but few have been as gritty and multi dimension as Mikey Madison’s Anora. Anora is perhaps the freshest role to come along for a new, young actress since Alana Haim’s spectacular turn in the wonderful
Licorice Pizza (2021). Madison’s performance is one of the year’s most engaging and she is likely to get nominated for best actress in this year’s Oscar race. You might have seen Mikey in roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as one of Manson’s disciples, or one of the preyed upon teens in the recent Scream remake. She was violently killed onscreen in both roles.

Anora was directed by the talented and innovative film maker, Sean Baker, one of the most promising artists in the new generation Hollywood directors. While some of his previous films especially Tangerine (2015) and The Florida Project (2017) were terrific and they both made my top films of the year lists, with this film, Baker seems to be hitting his creative peak. He has made it a point to portray women in the sex business with dignity without relying on the whore with a heart of gold stereotype in films such as The Florida Project and Red Rocket. When he won the Palm d’Or at Cannes Film Festivals this year he said that he was dedicating the award to, “all sex workers past and present. “

Anora plays with the tropes of fairy tales and at times it plays like a much more cynical and realistic version of Cinderella. But when Anora finds her Prince Charming here, we have reason to suspect it probably won’t last even though we hope it does. One of the differences is that Anora’s Prince Charming, Vanya, is very flawed, immature and a poor lover. The audiences will probably catch on that he is a shallow jerk much faster than Anora does. But this is probably exactly the kind of man she is most likely to meet in her profession.

Anora who preferred to be called Ani does lap dances for money and occasionally provides other services on the side even though she does not consider herself a prostitute and she does not like it when people call her a hooker. But like most in her profession she considers her body to be a tool to be used for financial transactions and she thinks her main asset is her good looks. Despite all this she seems to think that her sugar daddy actually might care for her.

The film is kind of like a sexier, more sophisticated and more psychologically complex version of Pretty Woman. Like that film it’s about a struggling prostitute who meets a Prince Charming in the guise of a millionaire. But while the Prince figure is perfect and attractive in Pretty Woman, this Price Charming, Vanya (Mark Edelson) is shallow and selfish. I suspect the audience will discover this far sooner than Anora does. The film also is reminiscent of Boogie Nights it starts out fun and positive and at a certain point the plot spirals and things get dark and stay dark as the negative effects of her career choice come out.

It all starts when a drunken Soviet high roller named Ivan Vanya Zakarov (Mark Edelshtyen) with tons of disposable cash enters the strip club and asks for a girl who speaks Russian. Vanya is the spoiled and bratty son of a Russian oligarch who is probably involved in crime. He is supposed to be studying in the US, but he spends most of his time playing video games, getting drunk and/or high and frivolously spending all his dad’s money. After a few “dates’ with Adora, offers his favorite “private dancer” 10,000 dollars for her to spend a week with him and become what he calls his “horny girlfriend.” In an act of spontaneous stupidity, they drive to Las Vegas and he proposes marriage to her to get a Visa even though they have only known each other for a week. But he also probably wants to piss off his family who keep him under their thumb. Anora sees this as a dream come true and is naïve enough to believe at least temporarily that it is on the level and that he loves her or at least has love for her.

But when the family gets wind of what happened they send a trio of thugs to grab the star eyed couple to get the marriage annulled. Igor (Yuriy Borisov) initially seems to be the most tough and violent of the three thugs, but later on he displays surprising compassion and perhaps even affection for Anora. Perhaps he feels sorry for her and admires her gutsiness. Although he is not rich he would have been a far better lover for Adora than Ivan.

This is the time of year when many of the most prestigious and important films come out in preparation for awards season. Like another quite different recent release,
Conclave, Anora. convincingly immerse viewers in convincing facsimiles of worlds and subcultures that are not normally easily available or accessible and both are highly recommended. Both are among the smartest, well mounted, and impactful films of the year.
 

Directed & Written by:  Sean Baker
Starring:    Mikey Madison, Mark Edelshteyn, Yura Borisov
Released:    10/18/2024
Length:    139 minutes
Rating:    Rated R for strong sexual content throughout,
 graphic nudity, pervasive language, and drug use
Available On:    At press time the film is in local theaters

For more writings by Vittorio Carli go to www.artinterviews.org and www.chicagopoetry.org. His latest book "Tape Worm Salad with Olive Oil for Extra Flavor" is also available.
Email carlivit@gmail.com

See the film trailer of the Lee Groban movie directed by Nancy Bechtol featuring Vittorio Carli.
See https://youtu.be/tWQf-UruQw

Come to the New Poetry Show on the first Saturday of every month at Tangible Books in
Bridgeport from 7-9 at 3324 South Halsted.

This is now a monthly show featuring Poetry/Spoken Word, some Music, Stand Up and Performance Art and hosted by Mister Carli. For more information e-mail: carlivit@gmail.com for details


Upcoming features at the Poetry Show:

January 4 – Dami Andonova, Matt Churney, Dina Marie Marguerite Patrick-Stewart and Eric Allen Yankee
 

ANORA © 2024 Paramount Pictur
All Rights Reserved

Review © 2024 Alternate Reality, Inc.

 

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