Anora eventually shines, but it requires some patience
Film review
Before Anora, Sean Baker brought us Red Rocket, a comedy about an unbearable out-of-work porn star. The humour was somewhat immature with hectic characters that you struggle to fall in love with. His following work failed to spark high interest from me until it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. Most of the time, the films that win that award exemplify prestigious filmmaking. Anora is one of the rare Palme d’Or winners that don’t quite hit that mark. However, there’s no denying that Anora is a good film. Even if coming to that conclusion takes a bit of patience. Especially if Red Rocket wasn’t to your taste.
Anora continues on the themes of sex which are predominant in Baker’s work. This time we follow a sex worker who goes by ‘Ani’ (Mikey Madison) as she falls in love with one of her clients, a young Russian playboy called Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) who happens to be the son of an oligarch. When Ivan’s parents discover the pair's marriage, they send their men on a mission to force the couple to divorce.
The premise alone and with knowledge of Baker’s style indicates that you are in for an experience of the same type of comedy and energy found in Red Rocket. Perhaps turning the notch up even higher in a scene full of smashing and screaming in which Ani tries to battle her way out of captivity from the men sent by Ivan’s parents. This chaos and high energy won’t be for everyone, but it's bound to launch some cinema audiences into hysterics.
An hour and a half into the film, Anora is very much like Red Rocket in its tone, but there are moments of warmth including when the couple get married and a remix of Take That’s ‘Greatest Days’ by Robin Schulz plays in the background, leading to the couple celebrating in ecstasy in the dazzling lights of Las Vegas. This is as close as it gets to ‘Palme d’Or prestige’ with the music also used to great effect in the film's opening scene in which the camera tracks sideways along a row of men getting a lap dance, ending with Ani waving her hair, revealing the title of the film.
A film with high energy doesn’t necessarily lock you in. Anora feels like you are experiencing a rollercoaster as an observer watching from the sidelines rather than being on one. You watch these events occurring with somewhat of a distance as you reflect on your relationship with the characters. Baker doesn’t really give you enough depth to these characters to justify a certain level of emotional involvement. However, as we approach the two-hour mark, Anora suddenly becomes a much more serious work than first preconceived. When Baker eventually reveals these depths, the mood changes, and for the better. Suddenly, the party the viewer experiences ends, and you then have to deal with something painful.
The film's ending and final shot drive further into this pain, hitting you hard as Baker finally exposes what is going on inside Ani in an impactful moment of vulnerability that might leave you sitting in silence as the credits roll with tears in your eyes. It might have taken a while for this moment to rise, but its revelation makes it worth it. Anora deserves a chance, especially from those who weren’t enthralled by Baker’s previous work. Like myself, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Out in UK cinemas from 1st November