“God bless America!” is what our spoiled Russian son of a billionaire shouts in the streets of Las Vegas after he marries our titular character, Anora, in a fit of passion and spontaneity. The only issue—at least later on—is that Anora, who goes by Ani, is one of the fine women over at Headquarters, a red room coded Manhattan strip club where middle aged men go blow their paychecks on dancers as old as their daughters and bachelors spend their last days of non-commitment.
Luckily for the audience, the first half of Anora is some of the most fun you’ll ever have. Our charming yet childish co-lead Russian is Ivan—who also goes by Vanya—oozes Gen-z status by taking hits of his THC vape pen and playing Xbox all day. Don’t we all have this person in our lives? Ivan sits in his father’s Brooklyn mansion with amenities such as an elevator, balcony, and glass bottles of Voss. It’s not until an average night in the life of Ivan in which he meets Ani—who’s birth name is Anora but refuses to acknowledge this as her’s—at Headquarters because she’s the only Russian speaking dancer in the club. This interaction turns a simple VIP lap dance into a relationship that would make “Pretty Woman” seem childish.
The first hour of this film is a love story. Ani and Ivan’s relationship may be transactional, especially since she agrees to see him in private, but producer-editor-writer-director independent filmmaker extraordinaire Sean Baker uses the most subdued details to show the care that the pair has for one another.
After a long night—morning?—of partying in the ‘1990’s built on cocaine’ mansion in which the two wake up at 5 PM in the evening, Ivan poses a question to Ani that Mikey Madison’s eyes are able to shine and guide the scene with. “Would you be my girlfriend for a week?” asks Ivan. Ani rubs her fingers together suggesting a cash payment which is agreed upon the amount of $15,000 after a homage to the Julia Roberts and Richard Gere negotiation in Pretty Woman.
From here? It’s more partying montages with an incredible Take That needle drop and a spontaneous ketamine fueled trip to Las Vegas on a private jet with Ivan and Ani as well as some other Russian-American friends. This then leads to one of the few tender moments of the film in which Ivan proposes to Ani with a 4-caret diamond ring and a quick Nevada marriage license. Everyone is on their A-game. The highs could never be more high. It’s the orgasm that won’t end which compiles the first half of one of the very best films of the year.
We then reach our halfway point in the film which is our 3-minute opportunity to catch our breath and prepare for the adults only screwball comedy this turns into. It’s a second half that essentially becomes a game of cat and mouse as Ivan runs away from his Russian babysitters along with Ani because his parents have found out about his marriage to a sex worker. Mark Eidelshtein, who plays Ivan, does some of the best face acting you’ll ever see when he learns his parents are coming from Russia to “handle” this situation. He expresses a look that only children can possess after spilling a glass of milk.
Anora essentially becomes a road trip comedy from here on out. It’s three Russian dudes in a car with Ani driving in a Cadillac SUV around Brooklyn searching every club, restaurant, and boardwalk for our reckless prince. These moments of hijinks are constant until the film’s final heartbreaking moment that is guaranteed to leave you empty as you watch the closing credits.
To shift away from an overview of this future awards winner, I had to share my thoughts after a third watch the other night.
Anora is the definition of American idealism. An unrealistic set of expectations that come after a 9-5 and just hoping to get your rocks off a couple times a week. Our main character’s origin of how she became an “exotic high class dancer” like our hour past puberty Russian little shit describes her as, is completely unknown. Although Sean Baker is used to doing this with his characters. We often leave his films without explanation because he never gives us one, whether it’s single mothers on the outskirts of magic in Orlando or the donut munching blue collar land of Texas, we’re left with much to chew on as to why these individuals are in their usually miserable situation.
But isn’t that all of us? We all have a story, we all probably have a lot of shitty aspects of our lives whether it’s financially or morally or spiritually. It’s the highs we remember and in our story here, it’s a hell of a week that ultimately ends in heartbreak because Anora isn’t in touch with her own emotions because of what happened in her past. We don’t know much about her past, but there’s a line when she’s leaving the club for her marriage to Ivan in which she says “I’ve always wanted to have my honeymoon at Disneyworld with the little Cinderella suite and shit” and this manages to break me the more I see this film.
Like all of us, our youth is overly dependent on who we become as adults, we all have dreams and aspirations, yet how many of us actually follow through? Everything changes so fast and we rarely have an opportunity to truly sit on it. It’s just another day after day that we have to try and enjoy before our fun runs out.
I love Anora. She’s absolutely manic, she’s a product of the environment she works in, yet I feel comfortable with her every time she’s on screen. Every moment I feel safe with what’s going to happen to her because she’s such a fucking badass. Her language and manner are a projection of who she is, yet I wanna hang out with her even if she’s calling me a “f*ggot ass bitch”.
It’s a conflicting feeling, but I love Anora, I love America, yet I love how much this film manages to take care and critique both of these ideas. We lack meaning, we lack promises, because it’s all a fucking farce. All we have is each other. Go see it.
Grade: A
