ANORA - Review | Cannes Film Festival 2024

Sean Baker’s latest film blends the best of his comedic and dramatic storytelling skills as we follow a sex worker’s lucky shot at obtaining the American Dream. Starts as a romantic comedy that progresses to becoming more chaotic and relentless, Anora constantly keeps viewers guessing with consistent lavishing energy thanks to career-best scenery and swift visuals. Led by the captivating Mikey Madison whose fierce dynamic with the fascinating ensemble brings out the perfect balance of depth and humor. Even with its midpoint feeling slightly repetitive due to the dialogue sounding like aimless improvisation. The film quickly picks back up with more daring and engaging sequences that build up to Baker’s most powerful and resonating conclusion yet.

Still Courtesy – NEON

In New York, Anora (portrayed by Mikey Madison) is a sex worker living with her sister whose life takes a radical turn upon meeting Ivan (portrayed by Mark Eidelshtein) in the brothel she works in. The incredibly wealthy 21-year-old son of a Russian oligarch where Anora starts becoming his private and full-time client. During their trip to Las Vegas as they become closer to one another, Ivan decides to tie the knot and marry Anora which begins to complicate their lives upon the grand exposure of their marriage.

For a filmmaker who specializes in telling character-driven stories of lower-class citizens in the United States, Anora (2024) certainly feels like a departure from director Sean Baker where the focus is more on Ivan’s wealthy and luxurious lifestyle that Anora gets involved in. Even with this feeling like his most different and largest work to date from a setting, casting, and filmmaking standpoint. Baker still does what he excels at which is to authentically put a spotlight on the underrepresented stories of trashy but fascinating individuals. At the same time, providing clever commentary on hierarchy and society where one could point out that his films contain very similar characters and scenarios. However, they all stand out from one another since changing the location, ages, and professions of the central characters provides new opportunities to explore different sides of these stories.

Baker is also someone who consistently keeps elevating the quality of his craft/storytelling skills, especially from his transition of making Tangerine (2015) on an iPhone 5s to shooting on 16mm and 35mm film stock for each of his subsequent projects. From those, The Floirda Project (2017) felt like his strongest dramatic work while Red Rocket (2021) felt like his strongest comedic work. This is why Anora (2024) feels like the movie that he's been building up to make that provides the perfect blend of drama and comedy from his previous work. It even gets to a point where the film becomes a thriller during the midway point while maintaining a consistently funny tone. All these genres end up flowing so well with one another thanks to the terrific pacing where there never feels like a gradual change in genre.

Certainly, this is a film that starts much lighter than how it ends. However, it's the kind where Baker's execution of bringing a humourous side to the film's chaotic and stressful situations makes the viewing experience far more resonating and engaging. This mainly comes from the ensemble's intense interactions with one another, which involve plenty of playful and serious arguing with overlapping dialogue. Since this takes up much of the film's second act as soon as employees from Ivan's father are introduced. It gets to a point where the constant shouting and rapid disputes can feel like meandering improvisation. Basically, when the characters keep repeating what they've already expressed, it makes scenes feel unnecessarily stretched out. Luckily, this doesn't take up much of the film which leads to exciting, hilarious, and surprising turns in the plot when things start spiraling out of control.

Probably the best comparison for Anora (2024) would be if Pretty Woman (1990) and Good Time (2017) were merged into one film. Taking the basic premise of Pretty Woman (1990) but with much younger and more reckless individuals as the protagonists where the first act primarily focuses on presenting Anora and Ivan's dynamic from business partners to lovers. Thus, even when situations occur that realistically put their relationship into jeopardy. It's easy for audiences to invest in their characters during their highest and lowest moments based on the dynamic development they're given. This includes their endearing meet-up scene where the broken Russian of Anora along with her heritage permits her to be the only sex worker in her brothel to communicate and take Ivan as a client.

This is the section of Anora (2024) that will immediately hook viewers to the story that not only establishes how the film will be as explicit as necessary considering the subject matter. It's also a great showcase for the wonderous and precisely flowing cinematography where much of the actions play out in wide master shots that refrain from needlessly cutting. It's when the film seems like a direct romantic comedy until reaching a certain point where it slowly becomes more high-octane and vigorous. This is when the Good Time (2017) influence comes in when there's a sudden urgent need to find a character. As a result, its style becomes far more fast-paced and vibrant to match how desperately the characters are reacting.

Once reaching the third act, it starts moving more calmly which includes several memorable and satisfying insults that left the crowd in total enthusiasm. However, this whole act feels like a slow payoff to the last heartbreaking scene of the film. A scene without predictably for when it's gonna end while perfectly representing the film's themes mainly through silent visuals. It's especially the point where if someone wasn't impressed by Mikey Madison's committed performance as Anora, that'll be the scene to convince all viewers of her true talent. The big ensemble of American, Russian, and Armenian actors provides a diversified set of characters where they each serve their purpose and get their moments to stand out. It is, however, Mikey Madison as the titular character who can transition from being sweet, hysterical, horrifying, and distressing throughout the entire film so believably that it's hard to imagine another actress recapturing what she did.

Mark Eidelshtein's breakout role as Ivan certainly garners the audience's attention by bringing so much charisma and generosity to his role. He also provides a consistent amount of intended humor through his excellent comedic timing. However, his commanding screen presence is mainly during the first act where different supporting characters get the most significant roles for each subsequent act. However, Mikey Madison is who this film is fully focused on and Baker's team couldn't have done a better job with casting the right actors for their roles. Witnessing Anora go from being an average sex worker with a dream opportunity where reality comes back to bite her in a film as twisted, raunchy, hilarious, and impactful as this one. Baker truly created one hell of a wild ride that packages everything special about his filmography into one standout film for the ages.

Verdict

9/10

Still Courtesy – NEON