Chewing on Anora (2024)
hair tinsel really brings some shine to tragedy
Anora has been my most anticipated release of the year. I wasn’t able to see it on the big screen so I googled its VOD release date feverishly. Yesterday morning I finally got the notification from my internet home away from home, Letterboxd, announcing its release! Forget all of my plans, (which included some kind of celebration for Keith Richards’ birthday. Sorry Keef), I had one mission for the day: to finally watch my grrl Mikey Madison light up the silver screen.
I didn’t care what Anora was about or who else was in it; I knew I’d see it because of Madison. I spent the early days of the COVID pandemic tearing through Better Things, and was a big fan of Madison’s acting from the beginning. Seeing her land the lead role in a big screener was so exciting. I was instantly captivated by Madison from the second the film started; I knew I’d have some Mikey Madison goggles on for a bit, and unintentionally ignore every other aspect of the film during my first viewing.
I’m a Sean Baker newbie; I know nothing about the guy. I don’t know if he has any reputation or any commonalities in his films. I avoided any commentary on this movie before seeing it, so forgive me if this is obvious. I enjoyed the first half of Anora which focuses on Ani and her life as a sex worker leading up to when she meets Ivan, (or Vanya as he is more commonly referred to), the chode son of a Russian oligarch. If I were more familiar with Baker’s work perhaps I’d have expected there to be a rollercoaster-like shift in the plot.
Spoilers ahead <3
Ani (Madison) quickly becomes captivated by the glitz of Vanya’s (Mark Eydelshteyn) life and is blinded by the fact that she doesn’t seem to even like him; she looks so unsatisfied to the point of being near tears when they have sex. Ani’s desire for everything bigger and flashier and the general theme of having MORE overpowers everything else. Ani and Vanya quickly tie the knot in Vegas, and it seemed for a second to Ani and me that everything would be alright. The One From The Heart-inspired beauty does a number on the brain.
When it reaches Russia and Chode Daddy that his son has gotten married, his men immediately rush to New York to force Ani and Vanya to annul the marriage. This latter half of the film was where I started to come up for air. Ani’s fantasy soon explodes when Vanya suddenly takes off and runs away; Ani refuses to understand Vanya is a piece of shit and their marriage was only a green card union.
I was totally taken aback when Vanya split. It may seem obvious to some that his leaving was to set up the second half of the film, but it honestly never occurred to your pal Tay.
Vanya’s leaving and disappearance is the catalyst for Ani’s realization that her Cinderella story dreams were only dreams. The film completely erupts into chaos when the group runs all over the city to find Vanya who isn’t answering his phone and won’t answer it for any friend or acquaintance Ani and co. run into to acquire about his wearabouts. I think if I wasn’t so utterly captivated, it would be easy to tune out the chaos, (which makes little sense to me since my favorite movie right now is Go (1999, but-).
I really appreciated that in between the drama of tracking Vanya down, we have subtle hints in setting up what seems to be a future romance between Ani and one of Chode Daddy’s men, Igor (Yura Borisov), whom she hates because he keeps her restrained during the earlier (long) fight sequence. In reality, we later see and come to understand the extent of Ani’s vulnerability when she later collapses in tears in Igor’s arms during the final scene. It never occurred to me there would be a break in Ani’s tough exterior. Even as Vanya later explains to, and thanks her for being essentially his ticket into a two week jaunt into America, she doesn’t completely crack.
I think Anora is a near perfect film. As I’ve seen, (and agree with) in a few review skims, I think it was a tad too long. After a still incredibly plastered Vanya is found and everyone ends up at the courthouse for the annulment proceedings, it’s discovered they must get their anulement in Las Vegas where they got married, part of me sighed a little bit. Anora’s longer running time is a bit of a conundrum because what takes place does need to happen, and the film would probably lack some of it’s brilliance, but it probably does not need to be stretched for so long as it doesn’t establish anything new. I’m completely satisfied with the film overall though, and don’t feel let down in the least!
Anora is available for purchase on YouTube, Amazon, and Apple TV!
thank you for restacking, Beth!!! <3