Anora

A truly soul crushing exposé on the inherent cruelties present not within the line of sex work, but those who partake in it and the capitalist system which fosters it. A film which seeks not only to humanize sex workers, which it excels at on all fronts, but a stark reminder on the inequalities present within our society.  * *     Anora is hilarious, and charming, and enthralling, but it’s greatest feat is the complete subversion of its story. Myself, and I imagine many others, went into this expecting a story of star crossed forbidden lovers, perhaps akin to Romeo and Juliet. However, after the intensely flamboyant and ecstatic beginning and evolution of Ani and Ivan’s relationship, everything goes to shit suddenly and without warning. The other half of this presumed unlikely lovers completely disappears for almost the entire latter half, leaving Ani alone, frightened, confused, and disappointed. It’s absolutely devestating, and only becomes worse when the revelation comes that the two never really loved each other. They were simply using each other. Ivan used Ani for desire, and Ani used Ivan to move her to a higher social standing. An immensely troublesome revelation.      And in those final moments, Ani sees someone who cares for her, not for the image of her, Igor. She initiates sex, but as Ivan goes in for a kiss, for something genuine, something real, Ani can’t handle it. She breaks down completely, and we are left with that image of a woman, broken and betrayed, sobbing as we cut to black and the credits roll. Just heartbreaking.      Also, I absolutely loved how immersed I was in this film. This was the first movie I’ve ever truly seen by myself in theaters. I’ve gone by myself before yes, but I was seated next to people. On this particular screening however, I was situated perfectly in the muddle of the front row, with the whole isle to myself. I don’t think a single thought outside of what was going on in the movie crossed my mind the entire runtime. Usually, even with the best of film, if I’m not ocassionslly thinking about something apart from the movie, I am unfortunately thinking what I’m going to write in Letterboxd for said film. But with Anora it was different.