Anora is a tale of two shots: its first and its last.
The movie, written and directed by Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project), opens with a seductive tracking shot passing along a wall of men receiving lap dances in a New York City strip club, the performers seen gyrating from behind to the pulsing euphoria of Take That’s “Greatest Day (Robin Schulz Rework).”
We soon meet Ani (Mikey Madison), one of the club’s dancers. As we watch her at work, the filmmaking shifts into a fast-paced montage, offering brief snippets that capture the frantic details of Ani’s long shift. This is, indeed, work: a performance of malleable roles; a series of business negotiations (“Let’s go to the ATM”); the political maneuvering of colleagues/rivals; and yes, athletic agility. It seems exhausting.
One night Ani is assigned to a gangly young Russian guy because she knows a little of the language. This is Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), supposedly 21 but looking (and acting) all of 16. The two hit it off professionally, but there’s also a bit more between them. The shared language helps, as well as the relative closeness in age (Ani is 23). There is, dare I say, a sense of innocence in the air.
Ani becomes a regular client for Ivan, exchanging sex for money outside of the club and learning that he comes from an obscenely wealthy Russian family. (It’s one reason Ivan can be so painfully dorky; with this much money, nothing else matters.) When Ivan’s parents, who are back in Russia, learn of the couple’s closeness, it doesn’t go over well. They send in some local backup to address the situation: family friend Toros (Karren Karagulian); Toros’ hulking but gentle friend Garnick (Vache Tovmaysan); and a random Russian named Igor (Yura Borisov), pulled in at the last minute to serve as intimidating backup.
When these three barge in on Ani and Ivan in his family’s monstrously ugly mansion, Anora kicks into high gear as a farcical comedy of errors. This involves broken vases and noses, some biting, a long chase through nightclubs, an escape from a tow truck, a little vomit, and an early morning courtroom debacle. Among other things. In its combination of anxious hilarity and full-moon energy, Anora’s middle section reminded me of movies like Uncut Gems, After Hours, and Night Shift. (Let’s throw in a little of The Bling Ring, as well.) The three men have the interplay of a well-oiled comic team—Toros increasingly exasperated, Garnick bemoaning his predicament, and all of it bouncing off of Igor’s deadpan stare—with Ani cranking them up by wildly refusing to cooperate. Be it love or money (the movie is cagey about which it might ultimately be), Ani is not going to lose out on this deal.
As that might suggest, Anora doesn’t forget the questions of class and labor that were raised at the start. One of the intricacies of Madison’s performance—beyond the dynamo presence she brings to bear on the comedy in particular—is the way she makes it clear that Ani is always aware of who is doing what for money. (Watch what she watches.) Ani may be Ivan’s “exclusive girlfriend”—perhaps even something more—but at the end of the day is she really any different than the maid who awkwardly vacuums under her feet while Ivan plays video games? How about the masseuses who come to the house? Or Igor, who was hired for what was supposed to be a quick, easy job and now finds himself at least two days into a family fiasco? (I doubt he’s getting overtime.) Perhaps Ani is just the best-paid member of the staff.
I wouldn’t dare reveal how any of this is resolved, but I do want to return—without spoilers—to Anora’s final scene. Like that first shot, this one involves a sexual encounter. It also begins as another exchange of commodities. Yet something at once more complicated and elemental occurs, a moment given quiet and space by a simple, fixed camera that holds on two people in an unfussy medium shot. It looks and sounds nothing like the “Greatest Day,” but it could turn out to be the most meaningful day in Ani’s life.
(11/2/2024)
