Film review: ‘ANORA’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Writer/director Sean Baker distinguished himself as an ultra-low budget filmmaker intrigued by the lives of people on society’s fringes such as transgender sex worker Sin-Dee in Tangerine and volatile single mother Halley in The Florida Project. After these raw and confronting films, he seemed to lose his way with the long rambling Red Rocket. His latest film, the Palm D’or winner Anora sees Baker partially return to the style of his earlier works but also take a bigger step toward more polished mainstream filmmaking which at times feels like a loss.
Anora is a fractured romantic comedy. The story set-up echoes Pretty Woman but tonally it has more in common not only with Baker’s work but also films like David O Russell’s American Hustle.
Mikey Madison, who was unforgettable as Manson family member Susan Atkins who had an unfortunate encounter with a pit bull and a flamethrower in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, plays stripper Anora or Ani who ekes out a living providing lap dances for drunk patrons. Due to her minimal grasp of Russian, she’s called on to entertain a young Russian customer Ivan or Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) the son of a billionaire oligarch. Cashed up to the eyeballs but with the maturity of a teen, he lavishes affection and money on Ani even inviting her to his parents gigantic New York mansion. When the young couple make a spur of the moment decision to marry, Vanya’s parents are appalled and as they fly in from Russia on their private jet, they order the boy’s Godfather, Toros (Karren Karagulian) and two bumbling henchman, Igor (Yura Borisov) and Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) to force the delirious young couple to annul the marriage. With this collection of characters, though, such a straightforward plan is destined to go haywire.
This film has arrived atop a tsunami of hype with some saying it’s Baker’s best work, the year’s best film and an Oscar certainty. Unfortunately, these types of claims raise expectations much too high and tend to lead to disappointment. The film certainly begins impressively capturing with dizzying and chaotic fervour the couple’s wild partying, alcohol and drug-fuelled romance and gymnastic sexploits. Filled with lurid fluorescent-lit nightlife and frenzied substance use, this section has a furious energy as well as a raw, realistic and immersive quality that most closely resembles Baker’s earlier films.
The film’s mid-section, though, is a little puzzling. It turns into slapstick comedy with Ani forced to deal with Toros and the goofball henchmen as they trudge around New York looking for Vanya who has simply run away. This part of the film contains some genuinely funny moments but feels too quirky and even aimless and drags on too long. Also, the arrival of the much-feared oligarch Nikolai (Aleksei Serebryakov) and his wife Galina (Darya Ekamasova) is anti-climactic.
It’s not until late in the third act that Baker delivers the sort of emotional gut punch for which he is renowned as the characters, particularly Anora, reflect on the true nature of their situation.
As the flinty but vulnerable Anora, Maddison is excellent and deserves the praise heaped on her. She manages to believably mix anarchic energy, street smarts, compassion and naivete into one character. It’s a remarkably layered performance that effortlessly switches from wild physical action to the smallest gestures. It would have been even more effective, though, if we had learned a little more about her situation and back story. Eydelshteyn is also impressive as the layabout rich kid Vanya. He manages to make him contemptible on one level but also an endearingly dopey kid. Impressively, Baker gives substance to supporting roles with Igor and Garnick shifting from peripheral figures to scene stealers. Igor in particular proves a more emotionally complex character than we first imagine.
Had it appeared without much fanfare, Amora would have proven a delightful surprise but burdened with the weight of expectation and the label as one of the year’s defining films it feels underwhelming.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ Animation.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Sean Baker.
Release date: 26th Dec 2024.
Running time: 139 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.
Related Posts:
- Film review: ‘BREATH’, by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
- Film Review: CHIPS, from ‘Built For Speed’
- Film review: MARGIN CALL, from Built For Speed
- Film review: GAME NIGHT, by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
- Film review: ‘The Hunger Games: The ballad of songbirds and snakes’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’