By james art Movie review
There are three films battling it out in Sean Baker’s astonishing Anora, and each of them is better than almost anything else you’ll see this year. When brought together in one astonishing whole, it creates an electrifying experience as wildly entertaining as it is subtly poignant. It also marks the arrival of Mikey Madison, who, after smaller roles in films like Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and the Scream reboot, lights up the screen in a breakthrough performance for the ages that already feels profoundly timeless.
The first part of the film begins with the charismatic Anora, or Annie (Madison), working in a lively strip club in Manhattan. In an extended scene, we fully immerse ourselves in her world and witness how good she is at this job. While the customers look down on her for what she does (even as patrons), Annie smiles and continues to work to survive. When the clock runs out, she’s exhausted, travels home to Brooklyn, and crashes before waking up to do it again. She is the modern American working woman: short of necessity, but struggling nonetheless. One evening, she was assigned a new client, Ivan. Played by the crazy Mark Eidelstein, he is childish but full of money. The two develop a personal connection, hooking up in Vegas and getting her to move into his mansion, where the source of his vast fortune collides with the life Annie is trying to build for herself.
The focus on those who live a life of economic insecurity, especially sex workers, is nothing new for Baker. His excellent previous films, such as Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket, made them central characters. But Anora, which rightfully won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is his most accomplished work to date, not only does it carry the kinetic pace of a film like the sensational “Uncut Gems,” with the great Red Rocket cinematographer Drew Daniels, which gives the scenes a dynamic energy as well as an emotional punch in powerful close-up. but it also has a rich feel that’s part farce, part parable, and all Madison at every turn, from a strikingly chaotic confrontation scene when men sent by the oligarch’s father come to the aftermath that. sends them all over town, she is nothing more than an outstanding film that weighs on her shoulders, as does the world of her character, but she has the presence to bear every crushed look she throws or slyly retorts she delivers reveals a con , who is fighting for his future.
Madison makes Anora one of the funniest movies of the year, but it’s more than that. She and Baker slip into brooding musings that grow darker the longer they go on as Annie begins to see her best hope for a good life crumble around her. It’s a scalpel of a film that reveals just how stacked the deck is, and how solidarity—or the lack of it—can determine whether you survive unscathed. There is no Prince Charming to save the day or sweep us off our feet. Whether you’re a low-key stripper, a clumsy fixer with a heart of gold, or just anyone for a living, Anora is us and we’re Anora. In a cold world, we’re all everyone else has.