Anora

Anora is really great. It has an awesome and unique structure, with three very distinct acts contributing fantastically to the story being told. The film begins with a dreamlike, euphoric, and chaotic atmosphere, only to all come crashing down into a viscously biting and funny second act that perfectly encapsulates the surreality and absurdity of the circumstances. Then in the third act, the pace slows to a crawl. We see the worst aspects of the characters, there’s some great, personal dialogue, and some amazing, long scenes that tell the story purely through environment and action with little to no significant dialogue. It’s amazing. Anora also just tells a great story. It deals with the sanctity of love, telling us how it isn’t just something to be thrown away or rushed into, despite being the one thing that we all want more than anything. Ani, in this story, wants so badly to truly have found the perfect love. As she says, she wants to have found her Cinderella story. As we learn later, she has little to no relationship with her family other than her sister and it is clear that she has had to struggle through most of her life. Through the euphoria of the first act, we can see the true joy that this relationship has brought her, and for someone who has felt unwanted for most of her life, to have found someone who truly wants and loves her, it’s a dream come true. Yes, the relationship is based on personal interest from both parties, but Ani makes herself believe that it’s real and that it will last forever. While some have criticized the film for her being too emotionally attached to a relationship that was never “real” in the first place, I think that’s missing the point. It doesn’t matter if it ever was real, what matters is that Ani wanted it to be real, and was willing to do anything in order to make that the case. That’s why Ivan’s committed betrayal at the end hurts so bad: it is the nail in the coffin for her dreams. This is where we get into the ending. Ani is met with kindness from Igor, and, hurting from the dramatic ending of her marriage, immediately moves to sexual action. But before long, she breaks into tears and falls into Igor’s arms, crying, and finally finding release from all that she has gone through. This is significant because Ani learns that no matter how much she wants to be wanted and loved, it isn’t something that she can force or rush herself into. Instead, she allows herself to be vulnerable for the first time, crying and embracing him rather than simply finding release through sex, alcohol and drugs. This a real first step towards genuine love, and shows both the harm Ani has sustained through the abuses of others but also the necessity of actions of vulnerability for finding true and complete love. Yet despite these complex themes that generally speak out against unbridled lust, Baker manages to nonetheless humanize and empathize with the sex workers that the film portrays. All of the other characters constantly dehumanize Ani and call her names, thinking of her as less than a person (or rather, not a person at all) because of her past and line of work. Through her performance of Ani, Mikey Madison shows us that these people have hopes and dreams too, and while it seems at times like Ani’s only desires are to make more money, her tears at the end and her genuine sense of betrayal when Ivan gives in to his parents shows that she wants to belong just as much as anyone else. A fantastic film that had me smiling, dying with laughter, and on the verge of tears at different times, Anora is great. Unbelievable performances from everyone, with the two leads (Mikey Madison and Mark Eydelshteyn) being particularly remarkable. I will eagerly await more performances in the future. 9/10, basically perfect.