The depiction of sex workers on-screen is almost as embattled as the topic itself. Questions of if it can be empowering or is inherently degrading or whatever are magnified when filtered through an artistic lens. Clichés like the hooker with a heart of gold, the sex worker as disposable victim, and a broken bird that must be saved by a good man have proven hard to kill. Questions such as "Can you depict sex work in film without exploiting the actress involved?" and whether it's right for a man to write such a story have been enraged again by "Anora," Sean Baker's latest gritty drama. After winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, it's been collecting accolades throughout awards season on its way to six Academy Award nominations. While many love the film, some dismiss it as another innately wrong-headed story of life as a sex worker created by a clueless man. Speaking as a clueless man myself, I'm sure I'll have nothing meaningful to add to this conversation but I might as well take a crack at it.
Ani works as a stripper in a Brighton Beach club, where under-the-table transactions between the dancers and the customers are common. As the only girl in the club who speaks Russian, she's invited to entertain Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov, a Russian young man ostensibly studying in the States. The two hit it off and Ani agrees to see Ivan in his home, which turns out to be a mansion. Shortly afterwards, he offers her ten thousand dollars to act as his girlfriend for a week and travel to Las Vegas with him. While there, Ivan reveals that he soon has to return to Russia to work for his father... But if he marries an American, he'll get a green card and can stay. Impulsively, Ani and Ivan wed in a Vegas chapel. What is supposed to be her ticket to a better life quickly falls apart. Ivan is the son of a Russian oligarch and, upon learning that their son has married a stripper, they send several henchmen to investigate. Ivan flees, leaving Ani with the men. The group go on a journey to find the young man, under orders to get the marriage annulled. Ani doesn't intend to go along with this easily, discovering much more about her new husband, and bonding with the most sensitive of Zakharov body guards.
Sean Baker has come a long way from his "Greg the Bunny" days, having since established a cinematic brand for himself. A Sean Baker movie is a slice-of-life story about the poor and struggling, often sex workers, trying to navigate the seemingly impossible barriers to a better life. In the past, I've found his movies straddle the line of so-called poverty porn a bit too much for my taste. However, "Anora" is less about the dismal facts of its title character's life than the specific issues of class disparity she faces. As the son of a billionaire, Ivan can devote his life to partying, playing video games, and call girls. The mere suggestion of actual responsibility is enough to make him flee into the streets. Ani, meanwhile, has to hustle, literally, to make ends' meet. Some have questioned whether her declarations of live for Ivan are meant to be genuine or not, if she's another patronizing depiction of a sex worker swept away by an obvious rich asshole. To me, it goes without saying that Ani doesn't love Ivan, that she has her doubts about him from the beginning. However, he's still her best shot at entering a world of money and glamor. Whether she's deluding herself knowingly or not, "Anora" is clearly a movie about a woman trying to escape the life she's trapped in, a clear depiction of the lines separating the rich and the poor.
Baker's film does focus a lot on what I guess you'd call the "local color" of his setting. The strip club Ani works at is full of women and men who communicate in colorful language, a palooka boss and nonbinary bouncer that she has playful banter with. This extends to a trashy rivalry with a jealous co-worker. Through its intimate and gritty cinematography, the film features plenty of casual drug use, sex and nudity, and antics among poverty-level eccentrics. It's debatable whether you find such depictions affectionate or exploitative, if we can take Baker's interest in these characters and their lives as empathetic or laced with a degree of "look at this crazy shit" glibness. That feeling peaks during a lengthy scene where Ivan – and the film and the audience – watch Ani perform a striptease. "Anora" is certainly a very funny movie, functioning as a comedy of errors in its second half as we watch the Russian tough guys haplessly navigate the Brighton Beach neighborhood they find themselves in. To my eyes, the enforcers of the rich seem to be the butt of the joke more often, while Baker is more sympathetic to the working class and what they must do to survive. Another brief example of that are the maids who clean Ivan's dad's mansion, who take a little extra cash as a tip in one scene.
Maybe that suggests an attitude of "the rich are rich, the poor are poor, and the latter can only do whatever they can to survive." That's not the most progressive of viewpoints, though given the state of the world, not a necessarily incorrect one. However, simply as a character piece, I ultimately found "Anora" charming and touching. This is largely thanks to Mikey Madison – cast after Baker saw her in "Scream 5," suggesting he's a horror fan and forcing me to like him more – as the title character. Adopting a perpetually amusing Harley Quinn accent, Madison makes Ani a fighter. When the oligarch's errands boy enter the mansion, Ani quickly goes on the offensive. This escalates into a sequence of delightful slapstick, with her tossing a Menorah and kicking a guy through a glass coffee table. Ani is the kind of girl that my mom would call "a pistol." She's loud-mouthed. She speaks her mind. She's not ashamed of the life she lives. She stands up for herself, smacking the most deadpan of the henchmen.
Madison doesn't give a superficial, caricatured performance though. Through her soulful eyes, Madison expresses Anora's hopes and fears. What if Ivan truly can give her a life of riches and relaxation? Her joy at having achieved this dream is impossible not to be swept up in. She demands to be treated better, asking for a big ol' ring from her rich husband or instructing him on how to be better in bed. Similarly, as the second half goes on, we watch the hope drain out of her face as she inevitably faces the realization that she's been cheated. Ani doesn't stop fighting then either – standing up and declaring herself an impossible to ignore force of nature when faced with Ivan's parents – and I can't help but admire that. I've known women like this and Madison's hilarious, intuitive performance is a tribute to them. Ani is a fully realized character, that is ultimately impossible not to like.
That we are following her on this journey, through some very high highs and some dispiriting lows, allows "Anora" to pull off a fine tonal balancing act. The extended sequence of her continually overwhelming a pair of Russian tough guys grows funnier as it goes on. Similarly, watching these guys struggle to explore her world and repeatedly make fools of themselves, is the source of some good laughs. Karren Karagulian, as the Armenian Toros, especially emerges as a straight man repeatedly humiliated by being thrust into this situation he has so little control over. As Ani stands up to Ivan and his parents, we are allowed to cheer for her in her own way. Ani is defiant and that brings smiles of its own.
On the other hand, "Anora" slowly moving towards tragedy unexpectedly touched me. Yura Borisov plays Igor, the soft-spoken member of the men sent after Ivan. The Moscow born Borisov has the kind of appearance that has unsurprisingly led to a career of playing criminals, soldiers, and bad guys. As Igor, that appearance covers an observant, soft-spoken, and eventually kind nature. Watching him and Ani unexpectedly bond, especially during the extended last act of the film, was one of the biggest surprises of "Anora." The script avoids uncomfortable subtext by never suggesting Igor is the "good man" that will "save" Ani, the sole decent guy in a film full of jerks. He tears Ani with respect though and accepts her a person, not for her lot in life. The final scene has her trying to thank him for that kindness in the way she's most accustomed to and him refusing to treat her as a product to be exploited. It's quietly devastating and touching in its own way,
I'll have to get back to you on whether or not Sean Baker is a pretentious fraud or not. How many more movies about sex workers does he get to make before it starts to feel weird? And I'm certainly in no position to declare whether "Anora" is sufficiently sensitive enough or feminist in the exact right way. However, it strikes me as a well realized portrait of an unforgettable character, brilliantly brought to life by Madison in a star-making performance. The film is equal parts funny and sad, a detailed depiction of life at two ends of the economical spectrum. Ani is charming and so is the movie about her and charm sure goes a long way. [8/10]
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