ANORA
A Review by Kathy Michelle Chacón
If you hopped on the Q train at Times Square–42nd Street, rode it fifteen stops to Kings Highway, got off, caught the B68 bus south via Coney Island Avenue, and rode that for an additional twelve stops, you could take yourself from the hustle and bustle of Midtown Manhattan to the water-side community of Brighton Beach in about an hour and eighteen minutes. Often referred to as Little Odessa, Little Russia, or, simply, брайтон бич, this neighbourhood in the southernmost part of Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Russian-American communities in New York City. It’s this very community that becomes—not a backdrop, but—the heart of Sean Baker’s newest film and this year’s Palme d'Or winner, ANORA.
Set at the start of a brutal East Coast winter, ANORA follows its titular protagonist through a frenzied journey of young love, hope, and broken dreams. Anora Mikheeva, who prefers to be called by the much more American-sounding nickname Ani, splits her time between two NYC boroughs. By night, you can find her working as a dancer at Headquarters, a bustling gentlemen’s club in Manhattan. In the cold light of day, she can be found in bed, recovering from big city life in the home she shares with her sister in Brighton Beach.
We first meet the 23-year-old Uzbek-American on one of these long Manhattan nights. Doused in gorgeous neon lights, she leverages her charm and inviting smile on a rotation of nameless Johns. A seasoned professional at what she does, she has her routine down pat: approach a single man in the club, make him feel special, and get him to pay for a private dance. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The monotony of her work flow is interrupted when 21-year-old Vanya, the son of a Russian oligarch, walks in requesting a Russian-speaking dancer. A private dance turns into a proposition for sex, which turns into a proposition to be his “horny girlfriend” for a week, which turns into a hasty wedding. The highs of married life, however, prove to be short-lived when Vanya’s disapproving parents get wind of their not-so-holy matrimony. From here, the film steps away from its joyous tone and fashions itself as a chaotic, action-packed tragedy before delivering a gut-punch in its final moments.
Of the many alluring elements of ANORA—its thematic interest in the American Dream, its emphasis on the significance of names and questions around cultural assimilation, its cinematic parallels to classics like ANNIE and Disney fairytales—perhaps the most striking is Mikey Madison’s magnetic performance. Whether she’s giving a man a lap dance or kicking him in the face, Madison brings a sense of realism to Ani’s movements. Her physicality creates a feeling of authenticity, which, in turn, opens the door for audiences to fully see, appreciate, and root for her character — which is profound in a world where we still largely demonise and belittle women who engage in sex work.
This film is an enthralling, charming, and often heartbreaking slice-of-life that invites us to spend time with and understand lives which may differ from our own. Ignore the train directions listed above. If you want to discover Brighton Beach and its lively characters, go watch ANORA.