Very funny
“Anora” is one of those movies where you’re constantly trying to name the influences. “Pretty Woman” is an obvious one, there’s a bit of Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers”, a bit of “Married to the Mob”, and “After Hours”. It’s one wild movie that Sean Baker has made and what’s more is that the film is funny, at times uproariously so.
The film stars Mikey Madison, best known to me as the oldest daughter on Pamela Adlon’s underrated show “Better Things”. Here she plays Annie, a New York stripper with a talent for separating men from their money, even if they look like Indian Jeffrey Dahmers. She’s always on the look out for a prince though and believes she’s found hers in Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn). He’s a Russian teenager with money to burn thanks to his very rich parents and all the energy and enthusiasm of a true horndog. Without the money, this kid would be a true spaz. He invites her to his mansion, where she becomes just another one of his entertainments along with video games, parties, cars, and jets which he can use and then ignore at will. Even sex with him is obnoxious- the only way he knows how to do it is like a hyped up jackrabbit.
Things get serious between the two kids. Soon he’s offering her 15 grand to be exclusive with him for a week where the whirlwind hedonism of Vanya’s life sucks her in like a drug. When he offers marriage to her, your joy drops and you want to shout “no” but this movie is a perfect example of dreams skidding into reality. You might think that this would lead to an annulment next day but instead Baker ups the ante- giving us one awkward, overblown comic set piece after the next all coming in the form of Vanya’s Godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian), and his two henchmen Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov). It’s clear that Vanya, little shit that he is, has done numbers on the long suffering Toros and the marriage is just the latest screw-up.
Toros and his buddies have to get the annulment even as the kids do everything to prolong the night. Annie becomes the foil and for the first time we see her, not as someone trying to sell a fantasy or be a plaything, but as a person who believes her love is real, even if she doesn’t understand it she’ll remain defiant in fighting for it. The first scene between Madison and the Russian goons is the funniest thing i’ve seen all year and I think is going to set the actress on a course to being one of our best comedians. Any fear we have for the girl is soon put to rest by a scene of pure animalistic feistiness so knock out, drag out in its execution that it’s gonna be hard to forget. And she just continues this terrible abusive streak all night long, all the while we know it comes from this strange place of love, or I guess, keeping the happily ever after dream alive at least.
The three Russians are equally hilarious, with Karagulian’s Toros lamenting at every turn the self obsession of Gen Z and how he’s been forced to have to corral it in Vanya. The surprise comes from Borisov’s Igor though, an actor who pulls off the tough balancing act of needing to be an intimidating henchmen but also having a completely different side which is more quiet, innocent, and empathetic, even if it takes Annie a while to really see it and even longer to accept it. This dynamic between Madison and Borisov always makes their scene shine just all the more. And I can’t forget Eydelshteyn. He reminds a bit of a Russian Michael Cera but with the soul of a far more obnoxious McLovin. Baker makes great use of New York, with its neon strip clubs and busy nightlife but what’s really striking is not only how funny it is, but how poignant it can be when he bursts the bubble of self-delusion.