Sean Baker’s Feverish ‘Anora’ Is an Exhilarating Star-Crossed Romance for the Ages 

Alci Rengifo

Sean Baker’s “Anora” is a love story that overturns all the typical notions of the term. A tale may have romance in it, but in real life, romances rarely ever follow any sort of rules. Happy endings are not guaranteed. Heroes are not always prince charming. This is the grandest feat yet from Baker, a poet of the downtrodden who makes visually energetic, empathetic films about genuine people. His characters rarely have life worked out. They dream big from the corners life has forced them into. There is something comforting about Baker’s cinema because, for once, we are watching people we feel we know or have come across, not cinematic fantasies. “Anora” crackles feverishly as a twisted romantic comedy that takes wild turns, yet if romantic comedies were true to life, they would feel more like this.

Ani (Mikey Madison) is an exotic dancer and escort in her 20s living in New York City. Her nights consist of servicing clients and sharing life’s woes with co-workers. At home, her sister lounges around with a loaf of a boyfriend. Ani’s name is actually short for her Russian birth name, Anora. This comes in handy when a young client with lots of money strolls into the club she works at. Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein) is 21 and scattered but rather sweet. He invites Ani to his lavish seaside mansion in Brooklyn for more fun. Ivan is the son of Russian oligarchs, hinting that they have something to do with running guns. Ani can’t help but feel genuine affection for the guy and it is evident that while he pays very well for her services and invites her to a big New Year’s bash, she actually likes him. When they go on a getaway to Las Vegas, Ivan expresses frustration over his parents wanting him to return to Russia. The idea pops into his head that maybe he and Ani should get married, and off they go to tie the knot. When Ivan’s family finds out, they send a local Armenian enforcer, Toros (Karren Karagulian), to take care of it.

“Anora” could be called screwball, though such terms don’t encompass what is so special about this film. Baker is a great humanist director, more obsessed with capturing the lives of his characters than following beat sheets. This is why when you start one of his movies it is hard to ever really guess how the story will end. He feels at home in the worlds and rhythms of the working class or marginalized. In films like “Tangerine,” about trans sex workers in North Hollywood, or his masterful “The Florida Project,” which takes a child’s point of view of life in a low-priced Florida motel, Baker captures lives with an egalitarian empathy rarely seen in feature films. Baker teases us into almost feeling for a washed up porn star in “Red Rocket,” even when he pathetically grooms a 17-year-old small town Texas girl. “Anora” casts no judgment on where life has taken its characters, only on the cruelty and unfairness of others. Ani is a smart woman who knows how to watch her back and demand respect. That she is a stripper who does escort work are merely facts. Baker doesn’t linger on overcooked explanations or psychological analysis to explain it all. Mikey Madison is so dynamic we don’t care, since she creates the character so fully, we don’t need exposition. Everything about her is there if you pay attention.

Life, as they say, is complicated. Baker makes such complications a gripping cinematic roller coaster. Ani and Ivan are a couple for our times, brought together outside of the norm, feeling they can do anything as long as they can spend Ivan’s parents’ endless fountain of money. Cinematographer Drew Daniels gives everything rich colors, shooting on film in a style that feels like Martin Scorsese meets the French New Wave. Ani’s shadowy workplace contrasts starkly with Ivan’s lavish home and pool parties. Baker’s screenplay makes their romance sweet and adolescent. Ivan plays videogames all day while smoking weed, but he doesn’t talk to Ani like some condescending rich kid. He is naïve and nice, his sheltered demeanor certainly an escape from the usual men Ani interacts with. They probably shouldn’t get married, yet lives tend to fall into impulsive choices. Have you ever been so excited about something you committed a wild act without thinking? “Anora” captures that spirit perfectly.

Baker’s film then continuously defies expectations and clichés. Toro, the big enforcer in a coat, is himself a tragicomic figure, rushing out of his godchild’s Orthodox baptism to demand Ivan annul the marriage. He brings along two goons, Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), who we learn is his brother, and Igor (Yura Borisov), a big-hearted simpleton. Their appearance marks this film’s transition into its wilder sections that are both moving and absolutely hilarious. Just watch the three henchmen try to pin down Ani, who is a force of nature leaving Garnick with a concussion. Toro is closer to a classic tough Armenian or Persian dad, not some cartoon movie thug. He is simply doing a job and is terrified over what will happen for not realizing Ivan got married under his nose. When Ivan runs away, an odyssey ensues with Ani, Toro, Garnick and Igor scouring the city, moving from one funny pit stop to another. 

Within the star crossed romance, what Baker is doing is telling a very human story about the environment of his characters and who they actually are. Ani is the real focus of this film as a working girl pulled into the clashes of a family that would otherwise never care if she exists. As her journey expands, a begrudging but gradual connection forms with her kidnappers, who are also nothing but worker ants for Ivan’s parents. We like romantic comedies to tell us that love erases class boundaries or that a poor maid can find her billionaire prince. “Anora” is exhilarating while it mocks those fantasies. When Ivan’s parents (Darya Ekamasova and Aleksey Serebryakov) arrive, it will only become more complicated. They are classic, post-Soviet Russian elites, obsessed with appearances more than whatever Ivan wants. The great and brilliant irony in Baker’s writing is how he evokes that Ani is actually probably good for Ivan. She demands he ask for respect for her and for himself. She is basically trying to teach him how to grow up. 

“Anora” is easily one of this year’s best films. Already it has won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It is alive both in its technique and storytelling, and the performances are some of this year’s most notable, especially Mikey Madison who does career-best work here. She has created one of those wonderfully complex characters. We understand why Ani would be taken in by Ivan’s wealth, yet she clearly isn’t into being with him for the money. Like the greatest romances, the tragic elements hit harder because they are so clear and simple. The final scene is tender and then ends on the tears of emotional exhaustion, or anger at the cards life deals us. Baker’s film is incredible because of how flawlessly it combines so much. It makes us laugh, cry, sigh, cheer and rage, because it feels that we, along with the director, genuinely care about the people onscreen. 

“Anora” releases Oct. 18 in select theaters.