The Marketing Machine can’t save Anora

by Kathia Woods

Anora, Sean Baker's latest film after the underwhelming "Red Rocket," is a disappointing take on the gangster genre, replacing the Italian mafia with Russian mobsters. The film follows a stripper who becomes involved with an immature rich client. Baker's films often explore working-class characters and sex workers, but "Anora" falls short. The characters and plot are unoriginal and fail to offer a fresh perspective on these familiar themes.

The film centers on Ani Mikheeva (Mickey Madison), a 23-year-old stripper living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov. Vanya, the 21-year-old son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, is supposedly in the United States to study but prefers to party and play video games in his family's Brooklyn mansion. After hiring Ani for several sexual encounters, Vanya pays her $15,000 to spend a week with him. During a trip to Las Vegas with his entourage, Vanya proposes to Ani. He claims he wants to marry her out of love so he can obtain a green card and avoid returning to Russia to work for his father. Vanya's genuine feelings sway Ani despite her skepticism, leading them to elope in Las Vegas. Ani quits her job and moves into Vanya's mansion. When news of the marriage reaches Russia, Vanya's mother, Galina, instructs his godfather, Toros, to locate the couple and arrange an annulment while the family travels to the US.

The main issue with Anora isn't its unoriginal plot, but rather its dull and unsexy nature. After nearly two hours, the audience only learns two things about Ani: she's a stripper and incredibly naive. The cardinal rule of stripping is to avoid falling in love with clients, and vice versa, as the job is based on illusion. Ani initially seems to understand this but loses sight of it. This is perplexing, as nothing about Ivan suggests he can improve her life. He's immature and behaves like a teenager. His money doesn't change the fact that he lacks control over his life and only enjoys the superficial aspects of wealth without any responsibility.

 Toro (Karren Karagulian), who serves as Ivan's handler, stands out in the film due to his unique understanding of the situation. Unfortunately, scenes involving Ivan often relegate him.

 The character of Ani suffers from a lack of development and a weak storyline. Mickey Madison's portrayal is unoriginal, reminiscent of any typical woman from New York or Jersey suburbs or boroughs. Anora's sheer stupidity undoes what little sympathy she might garner.

 The film even manages to make the strip club setting uninteresting. Given the potential for drama arising from the internal politics of the dancers, the clientele, and the neighborhood regulars, this lack of engaging content is a missed opportunity to add depth to the film.

 This presented an opportunity to highlight the cultural differences between the Russian mafia and the Italian mafia. It is assumed that Ani's status as a stripper was the primary reason Ivan couldn't marry her; however, given her Russian-American heritage and Ivan's Russian heritage, their values and those of the family didn't align.

 Perhaps the most serious sin is that Ani, who is claimed to be street smart, believed she could marry into the Russian mob or, worse, a client who paid her to be his girlfriend and live happily ever after. Furthermore, has Baker ever been to a strip club, and if so, who thinks a client will come to their rescue?

Anora is a film being pushed as a good film by the marketing awards machine, which has managed to persuade award voters that there is a decent film here, but in reality it reads like an excuse for a man to produce a film about a woman being naked and having sex. Additionally the numerous sex scenes are just as boring as the rest of the film.

This is a film that should have stayed in the drafts.