by A.J.
Best Pictures #113: 2024 (97th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
“It’s not Anora. It's Ani.”
Anora, the latest from acclaimed writer-director Sean Baker, won the prestigious Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, making it one of only a handful of American films to do so and ensuring it attention from the Academy Awards. It ended up earning 6 Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay for Baker, and Actress for Mikey Madison), but I am happy to report that this is not a case of prestige chasing prestige. Anora is at different points funny, dramatic, stressful, tense, a lively romp, cathartic. At certain scenes I laughed out loud. At others I feared for the main character. Anora has drawn comparisons to Pretty Woman, and naturally to Baker's previous films, but this film stands on its own and is one of the stand outs of 2024.
I would not call Anora a romance, though that is what Ani (Mikey Madison) and Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), believe they have. She works at a strip club where she has friends and rivals and lives in a working class home in Brooklyn. One night, because she is the only dancer who speaks Russian, she is sent to entertain Ivan, a young Russian man with very deep pockets. He wants to keep seeing her and luckily for both of them Ani is also a part time a sex worker. A day turns into a night that turns into a New Year's party that turns into a whirlwind week and a trip to Vegas and, before either knows it, they are married. It is all very fast paced and frivolous fun. Their marriage goes well for a little while until Ivan's oligarch (billionaire) parents hear rumors about their son's marriage and send Toros (Karren Karagulian), a beleaguered Armenian employee, to solve this problem.
None of the reviews I read or podcasts I listened to mention that the bulk of Anora, beyond the first act, is a one-crazy-night movie, a favorite subgenre of mine. Once Toros and his henchmen show up at Ivan's house to force Ani and Ivan to get an annulment, Ivan literally runs away. Toros slips on ice chasing after him–a clue that this is ultimately a comedy. So Toros, his crew, and a very unhappy Ani set out to find Ivan but they have literally nothing to go on because it turns out, to Ani's surprise, not ours, that she doesn't know Ivan as well as she thought. That crazy night turns into a crazy morning and a crazy and morning after.
The brilliant thing Baker has done with his movie is allow the characters layers and nuance. Nearly every character is more than who they seem at first glance. Toros, the would-be villain, is actually a put-upon employee so fearful of his bosses that he abandons a baptism mid-ceremony. His rant against "young people" at a late night diner is hilarious, one of many unexpected but natural moments of humor. Igor (Yura Borisov) seems the typical henchman type: broad shouldered, stone faced, silent. He chases Ani around Ivan's house, pins her down, and gags her with a scarf. The rest of the movie slowly reveals his true gentler self. He'll later give her the scarf to stay warm on cold and windy Coney Island. His time alone with Ani in the final act is what brings the film to its low-key but affecting catharsis and is responsible for Borisov’s Supporting Actor nomination. Ivan is bursting with eager, excited energy that would put any puppy dog to shame, however, his character reveals more too. It may not be surprising for us but it is heartbreaking for Ani.
The revelation of the movie is Mikey Madison as Ani. There are many things Ani does that I would never do, but none of her actions or behavior never felt contrived or at the demand of the screenplay. Ani is just that kind of person (we've all met that kind of person haven't we?). She commands our sympathy even as our feelings for others change. One perspective is that she is a working class dancer and part time sex worker who is making the most of an opportunity; a perhaps cynical but justifiable standpoint. Another is that she really falls in love with Ivan, or at least thinks she does, and isn't it wonderful that he is from a billionaire family. Her willingness and readiness to explain herself to Ivan's family goes a long way. No matter if we want her and Ivan to stay together or are thinking "girl, you need to get out!", we are always rooting for her.
Nominees: Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers
Director: Sean Baker
Screenplay: Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian
Production Companies: FilmNation Entertainment, Cre Film
Distributor: Neon
Release Date: October 28th, 2024
Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Actress-Mikey Madison; Director-Sean Baker; Original Screenplay-Sean Baker; Supporting Actor-Yura Borisov; Editing-Sean Baker
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