Mark Eydelshteyn, Mikey Madison
“ANORA” My rating: B (Prime rental)
139 minutes | MPAA rating: R
Those fortunate enough to have seen 2015’s “Tangerine” will be well prepped for writer/director Sean Baker’s latest screwball sex comedy, “Anora.”
“Tangerine” was about a trans prostitute scouring the streets for her philandering pimp boyfriend on Christmas eve.
“Anora” focuses on an exotic dancer’s whirlwind romance with the son of a Russian oligarch.
Both films treat sex matter of factly; they refuse to demonize (or even feel sorry) for the sex workers who are their protagonists.
And both films feature a riveting central performance by actors who radiate unstoppable energy.
When we first meet Ani (Mikey Madison…she was the oldest daughter in the superb series “Better Things”) she’s pushing drinks and lap dances in a Manhattan gentleman’s club.
Among the regulars is Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), a twenty something party boy who mixes conspicuous consumption with a weird kind of innocence.
Ani has seen too much of life to expect she’ll ever find her white knight, but Ivan gives her hope. Invited to his house, she discovers a veritable modern-day Xanadu.
The guy is obviously loaded (or his folks are). He’s sweet and funny. The sex is great.
So when Ivan suggests that they board a private plane for a Las Vegas weekend, Ani happily complies. And when Ivan, suggests a Las Vegas wedding…well, what more could a girl ask for?
“Anora” (that’s Ani’s legal name) begins sweetly romantic, then veers into breathless hilarity.
Initially the honeymooners spend their days shopping on Fifth Avenue, eating at the best restaurants and partying all night.
Meanwhile, Ivan’s parents in Russia are not pleased with this union and dispatch a couple of local flunkies (Kareen Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan) to demand an annulment. They’ve brought along some muscle, a hulk named Igor (Yura Borisov), who will end up playing a more important role than one imagines.
The upshot: The faithless Ivan panics and runs off for an all-night Big Apple binge, leaving his bride a captive. The trio of hapless goons and the royally pissed Ani spend a night scouring every hot spot where Ivan may have taken refuge.
In a parody of O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief,” the film has Ani running circles around the dimwitted thugs. They’ll be only too glad to be rid of her.
Madison’s performance is fierce, funny and even philosophical. Ani may be a sex worker, but she’s not a stupid sex worker. She exhibits more common sense than anyone else on the screen (even Ivan’s exasperated father finds her amusing) and appears to be free of self-delusion.
And she’s overflowing with New Yawk Girl attitude. An Oscar nomination seems likely.
“Anora” has a running time of well over two hours, but it doesn’t feel that long. The humor ranges from raucous to slyly satirical, and the film’s treatment of sex is, well, blush-inducing.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 