Susan Granger’s review of “Anora” (Neon/Film Nation)
Winner at the Directors’ Guild, Producers’ Guild, Critics’ Choice, Cannes Film Festival and Best Picture Oscar frontrunner “Anora” may have a similar concept to “Pretty Woman” but with one helluva difference.
Oscar nominee Sean Baker’s raucous, raunchy rom-com revolves around Anora – a.k.a. Ani (Oscar nominee Mikey Madison) – a tough-talking 23 year-old stripper from Brighton Beach in South Brooklyn, who hooks up with 21 year-old Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the obscenely spoiled son of a Russian oligarch.
They meet at the tacky HQ KONY Midtown Manhattan strip club where Ivan – nicknamed Vanya – specifically requests the services of a Russian-speaking lap dancer. What starts out as a drug-fueled, transactional sex worker/client relationship in a private room soon progresses to wild New Year’s Eve party that culminates in an impromptu wedding in Las Vegas.
Ani’s thrilled with the accoutrements of this whirlwind romance, particularly the cash payment of $15,000 a week as his personal escort, a sparking 4-carat diamond engagement ring and long sable coat, while Vanya relishes the idea that this quickie U.S. ‘green card’ union will enable him to escape parental control and become an American citizen.
But when Ivan’s irate folks in Moscow discover their precious son/heir has married a prostitute, all hell breaks loose. Specifically, there’s a remarkable home-invasion scene in which Toros (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian ‘fixer,’ and his two muscle men (Vache Tovmasyan, Oscar nominee Yuri Borisov) try to capture Ani and Ivan to facilitate an immediate annulment.
While feckless Ivan flees, feisty Ani turns ferociously feral, screaming uncontrollably and utterly terrorizing the thugs as she tears apart the luxurious waterfront McMansion. (The palatial Mill Basin property actually once belonged to Russian billionaire Galina Anisimove.)
In interviews, writer/director Sean Baker, who favors making movies about bawdy, brash sex workers (“Tangerine,” “The Florida Project,” “Red Rocket”) often mentions that he was loosely inspired by Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Cabria” (1957), starring Giulietta Masina as the determined prostitute who – at the conclusion – sheds a single tear.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Anora” is a provocative 8, available to rent/buy on Prime Video and soon to be streaming on Hulu.
