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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.
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Directed & Written by:
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Sean Baker |
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Starring:
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Mikey Madison, Mark Edelshteyn, Yura Borisov |
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Rating:
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Rated R for strong sexual content throughout,
graphic nudity, pervasive language, and drug use |
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Available On:
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At press time the film is in local theaters |
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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
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ANORA © 2024 Paramount Pictur
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2024 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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