The movie Anora has taken the internet by storm with its roller coaster-esque plot, fast pace throughout the movie and newly won five Oscar awards. Many of which are the first Oscars for writer and director Sean Baker, who is known for movies that highlight sex workers like “Red Rocket” and “Tangerine.”
The movie follows Anora, a sex worker in Brooklyn, who meets a Russian oligarch, Vanya Zakharov. As Anora becomes entangled in Vanya’s life, they decide to marry each other without letting Vanya’s parents know. However, when his parents find out, they send Vanya’s godfather, Toros, and his goons, Garnik and Igor, to bring Vanya back to Russia. The moment Toros and his goons show up, Vanya leaves, leaving Anora by herself to struggle. Following this is a cat-and-mouse game that leaves Anora divorced and alone.
As an independent movie, Anora had a budget of $6 million, which is considerably less than other Oscar-nominated films. When an independent film like Anora wins, it serves as inspiration for upcoming films.
“It’s a big step because a lot of people view the Oscars as something that’s almost impossible,” said San Mateo High School sophomore Noa Johnson. “For such a long time, it [felt] like there’s been such a big hierarchy or such a big gap between the big directors … and the people who are doing independent films and are trying to start their career. It’s really hard for them to be successful and have more independent films recognized and win awards. It’s really great because it’s giving these actors, writers, directors, more recognition for their work because there’s a lot of really amazing artists that don’t get recognized because they don’t have the right connections.”
Many of those actors include Mikey Madison, who plays Anora. Throughout the movie, she was extremely captivating with her performance full of emotions, from ecstasy to numbness. The movie starts in the club, where Anora is introduced as a feisty and bold woman who would argue with the club’s owner for better working conditions. In the scene where Toros’ goons had to hold down Anora to prevent her from running away, Madison does an excellent job of portraying Anora’s anger and exhaustion. From kicking to shouting, Madison was able to maintain Anora’s stoic facade but also hint at her crumbling faith in Vanya coming back to save her.
Not only did Madison play Anora’s personality well, but she did a lot of preparations to immerse herself in the role. In an interview, Madison revealed that she visited clubs to observe the etiquette and style, leading to her getting long acrylic nails and tattoos, which are both butterfly-themed. This created a cohesive element in the movie of being a “night butterfly,” a term used to describe sex workers. However, the cherry on top was the addition of the hair tinsels, hinting at Anora’s feminine energy. Madison also took dance and Russian classes. With all of the little details in the costumes and visuals, it made Madison worthy of the best-actress Oscar award.
“There were moments where Madison’s acting really stood out to me,” Johnson said. “It was when she was about to board the plane with Vanya and he [said] ‘Thanks for making my last time in America so fun’ and Anora just goes, ‘Yeah, you have fun?’ I watched this analysis of it and they were saying they noticed how she switched from her normal speaking voice to her working voice. It showed how she stopped viewing Vanya as someone she was in love with and it turned transactional for her again, because it was transactional for him the whole time … I thought that was a really cool detail.”
Besides using underlying tones in voices, it was obvious in the different lighting and color saturations throughout the different scenes. Most of the scenes in Anora depicted something with red, blue or white to symbolize the American Dream that Anora tried to pursue with riches that Vanya has. In addition, when the movie first starts, the colors are extremely saturated, but slowly as the plot progresses, the color becomes desaturated, representing the slow fading of happiness and the American Dream for Anora. These tones and lighting moved the audience and allowed them to feel the same emotions that Anora feels, bringing a strong sense of sympathy to the watching experience.
Furthermore, the movie used real-life settings to shoot the film, such as a real candy shop. This brings depth and an authentic sense that the audience can feel for Anora.
“The fact that it’s all practical different sets in that movie is just something we don’t really see anymore with green screens,” Gubman said. “It just makes stories feel so much more realistic [and] it helps tell the story so well with how Vanya’s house feels so full and impressive. When she’s first there, but then once he leaves, she realizes that it’s barren and cold.”
Despite having the goal to make Anora relatable, the goal wasn’t fully achieved as the movie itself lacked details that tell the audience about who Anora was behind all of the drama and beyond her work life. Although Baker did try to leave small details about Anora’s personal life in the movie, such as her not speaking Russian and being reluctant when she had to with Vanya, these small messages didn’t advance any understanding or plot about Anora, it instead made the audience crave for more backstory on Anora. Furthermore, it often felt that Anora was confined to her work and how even though she tried to break free from that life by marrying Vanya, it couldn’t be helped that she had to come back to the club again to find her husband.
“The way that Anora and all of the sex workers were represented … felt like we didn’t really see their whole lives,” Johnson said. “Because the movie is called Anora, I wanted to see more of her inner world and who she is … It really would have benefited if a woman wrote more of the script and maybe had more of a perspective on Anora’s life … It’s hard to get the full perspective when you are so different from the character that you’re writing … [because Baker] doesn’t know what it’s like to do this job, know what it’s like to be viewed in that way by society, and especially by men.”
However, Anora did have some character development that is shown when her perspective on Igor changed. Initially, she viewed him as dangerous when he arrived with Toros to find Vanya. Per Toros’ order to annul the marriage, Igor had to constrain Anora until she agreed to it. This led to her telling Igor that he has “rapey eyes.”
“You could see Igor become more humanized the more Anora gets to know him,” Gubman said. “As she becomes comfortable with him, we start to see more of him and stop seeing him as a threat the way that she saw him originally, which is also [a] development of her own [when] she’s come back down to earth, and not stuck in that fake scenario she was in with.”
These different character dynamics offer both emotional intensity as well as comedic relief in the most serious scenes, such as with Toros and his goons. The relationship between Anora and Vanya is very fast-paced when they immediately get married, while Anora and Igor’s relationship is slow-burn, as shown when Anora eases into being comfortable with Igor. This contrasting pace displays both how hurt Anora was with the divorce, as well as the reality of life.
While the pacing of all the scenes and relationships had its purpose, the scenes where Toros’ goons and Anora left to find Vanya felt extremely long with no direction. Unlike the previous fast-paced parts with Anora and Vanya, this part was dragged out and seemed too centered toward Vanya, inhibiting the audience’s captivation with the movie.
Besides romantic relationships, rivalries and friendships play a powerful role in the movie to demonstrate the hardship and struggle that Anora has to go through. Most noticeable is Anora’s rivalry with another colleague, Diamond. Throughout the movie, Diamond has expressed jealousy that Anora met Vanya, and even went as far as to offer Vanya a lap dance while he was drunk to upset Anora. These relationships showed Anora’s more expressive side and filled in the gap regarding Anora’s lack of outside-of-work personality.
“I connected with Anora because a lot of people and a lot of women know the feeling of being so excited about this opportunity like, love … and just being let down and feeling not knowing what to do,” Johnson said. “When you have people you don’t like and you’re on a similar path as them, it feels very competitive. It’s [similar to] seeing Anora be so happy to succeed, and then Diamond’s doubts coming through and her having to face that, it felt very real.’”
However, the most thought-provoking part of the movie is definitely the sobering ending. The colors were bleak and it was snowing, adding to the raw emotions that are felt through the screen. After Anora gets back to Brooklyn from Las Vegas to annul her marriage, Igor gives her the engagement ring that was supposed to be given back to the Zakharov family. The recurring theme of transactional relationship is highlighted when Anora jumps on Igor to have sex with him, an act to repay the ring because that’s what her job is based on. In her previous relationship with Vanya and her life, she knows that people are only nice to her when they want something in return. But when Igor tries to kiss her, Anora slaps him and breaks down completely and Igor embraces her. In this ending moment, Baker leaves the two labor-working characters just having each other at the end of the day to demonstrate the struggles and pain that sex workers have to go through.
“They’re trying to show how hard it is [for] these women,” Johnson said. “Because a lot of people say ‘oh, it’s such an easy job’ or ‘it’s the easy way out’ or ‘you’re lazy’ but everyone is complex, and everyone has their own life and their own emotions. Showing this tragedy is important because it gives these women more of a voice to speak out on, like how it’s unfair and how it’s not easy like people say it is.”
Baker also highlights the importance of having real genuine human connections. This shift in Anora’s behaviors clashes with the Cinderella motif that has been displayed in the previous parts of the movie. Instead of viewing Vanya as the knight in shining armor and her prince charming, Anora is now stepping up to the rude awakening that she’s alone like before, but Igor steps in to, not protect her, but to provide her comfort, such as giving her back the engagement ring she had. The movie overall highlights the reality in life that there isn’t always a happy ending like in fantasies.
“I really liked the ending,” said senior Sarah Klein. “At the very last scene too, it really shows that Anora is learning to see affection [and] appreciate true affection over sex. That was a really moving part of the movie.”
Despite trying to highlight the dangers of being a sex worker, the film itself didn’t employ any intimacy coordinator. Without one, it reflects the real danger of what sex workers have to experience.
“The fact that they had no intimacy coordinator … ruins the message of the movie a little bit,” Gubman said. “[Intimacy coordinator] should be mandated because it’s great that Mikey Madison felt comfortable in her skin … but because it’s not just the actors in that scene, there’s also the whole crew behind the camera [who] have to watch that may not be comfortable with that … It’d be easy with how much sexual assault and harassment happens on film sets. Directors or producers could easily manipulate a young actress like Mikey Madison to not want an intimacy coordinator.”
Ultimately, the movie does an excellent job of portraying the real reality of life through the lens of Anora by using witty elements like tones in the lighting and different relationships. Baker not only honored and humanized sex workers but also expressed the hardships that labor workers, in general, have to experience. This allowed the audience from all walks of life to feel relatable and touched by this film, making Anora worthy of four stars out of five stars.
