"I never read 'The Cinderella Complex' - I'm too afraid that my name might be in it." - Susan Ford
Disney, through no direct fault of its own, has led many to believe that fairy tales are not only real but they themselves are destined for one. It’s made a lot of people think they’re genuine royalty in the making. I’m a big supporter of believing in yourself but thinking you’re owed “the good life” because you watched way too many animated Disney movies and your father grew up calling you his little “princess” has set up a lot of people for failure. It’s also forced the rest of us to deal with your lovely attitudes that always come with a Disney themed fairy tale come to life.
Anora is about one young woman’s sudden reality change where it may actually be in her future to transcend from rags to riches basically overnight. But as we’ve already discussed, the Cinderella story isn’t real and writer/director Sean Baker drives this point home with a giant wooden spike in the heart of anyone yearning for such a thing. The royal family lives in London and their history is replete with assholes committing all kinds of atrocities. The reality of royalty is a shit stained mirror cleaned up to look, by all appearances, pristine as if it were brand new. You can still smell the stench of their past all the way over here in the good ol’ USA. My point is even genuine, so-called royalty is no goddamn fairy tale.
Anora is a character tricked into thinking such a life could actually exist and it could all be hers. Youth is synonymous with naivety and inexperience and for the main character Anora, she prefers Ani, she is practically dripping with immaturity. She is going to find out the hard way that nothing in this world is gifted. And often kindness, like she shows to her clients, in this day and age, is met with disdain and disrespect. If ever there was a crash course in life lessons, Ani is about to experience sudden enlightenment like a severe car accident. Blunt force course correction.
I’m glad I waited to write this review because my immediate reaction wasn’t exactly a warm one. Initially it left me drained, exhausted by the incessant caterwauling; basically the entire cast partakes in screaming at the top of their lungs for prolonged periods of time. When the credits rolled and I had to come up with my initial thoughts I came to the conclusion that Anora is a mixture of a modern Cinderella story and the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems. I stand by that assessment. If you recall how manic Uncut Gems is you’ll get a sense of how Anora progresses in its story. Everything about the characters’ reaction brings with it a certain amount of hostility and it can be a bit much at times. But what I realized right away with Uncut Gems, took me longer to accept with Anora, which is that everything about the way these characters are behaving is a direct result of the giant headache currently bearing down on them with little to no remorse. It is a massive juxtaposition to the first half of the story - the fairy tale yet unbroken.
In the first part of Anora’s story, she is a sex worker residing in Brooklyn. During a break she is approached by her boss with a client who has requested someone who speaks Russian and Ani is just that person. It starts out normal, things transpire in the backroom of a strip joint. Before long though Ivan is becoming a regular of Ani’s and the money he showers her with is intoxicating. And the dream begins to take shape. He requests her time for a full week and with the promise of big money, she accepts. In the midst of a drug and alcohol fueled week of debauchery, and with their excitement and endorphins at an all-time high, they give in to impulse and trek to Las Vegas where quick marriages are all the rage. You see where I’m going with this.
The moment the news leaks of Ivan and Ani’s possible nuptials, all breaks loose. From across the world, Ivan’s oligarch parents hear of this and immediately demand an annulment. Ivan and Ani prove difficult, resulting in Ivan’s parents threatening to arrive in person to handle it themselves. This brings out Ivan’s true nature, that of a giant coward and naive child, and so he runs to avoid responsibility. He leaves behind Ani to deal with his parents’ minions sent ahead to attempt to contain the situation as best they can. It quickly becomes a night of chaos trying to retrace the steps of a now missing Ivan. Ani fights tooth and nail to hold onto her newly acquired fairy tale and she’s surrounded by a bunch of strange Russians demanding she give up the dream. Ani isn’t exactly a big proponent of this idea. That is until she survives a night with her extended family and their cohorts only realize it may not be worth it. But the promise of the good life is a difficult thing to turn your back on.
The facade begins to crack rapidly and Ani must face the question - Did she ever really love Ivan or simply the lifestyle he promised her? For a short period of time she lived a life of endless indulgence and suddenly reality demanded that she come back down to earth and she had no intention of giving up so easily. It is a tale of the most stubborn, egotistical humans coming together in the name of a false love, or rather in opposition to it and everything that came as a result of it.
This is a true life fairy tale. Isn’t exactly Disney friendly is it?
The story is incredibly stressful and the performances to mirror such mayhem are impeccable. While its runtime can test your patience, it always feels extremely authentic and carries out like the world’s longest and most terrible bender of all time. Mikey Madison’s performance as Anora, or Ani, is a high strung masterclass in acting. She is an absolute revelation and her commitment is astounding. She is a lock for countless nominations this coming awards season. In a story about chaotic young love, she is the driving force of which seemingly no one else on screen can even begin to contain. This is the role Mikey Madison will be remembered for, forever.
At the direction of Sean Baker, Anora is honest rawness told through a kind of cinematic translation. It’s embellished as all cinema is but its identity of realism is never at risk of being lost. It is a modern day Cinderella story told from the fringes of society. It speaks on the absurdities of youth, of love and of familial tradition. It’s a beautiful kind of mess that revels in how insane life can be, especially between a sex worker and her newly acquainted Prince Charming. Despite all the themes of fairy tales and princes and princesses, I don’t think this will end up streaming on Disney+ any time soon.
Rated R For: strong sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language and drug use
Runtime: 139 minutes
After Credits Scene: No
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eidelshtein, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan
Directed By: Sean Baker
Out of 10
Story: 8.5/ Acting: 10/ Directing: 9/ Visuals: 8
OVERALL: 8.5/10
Buy to Own: Yes.
Check out the trailer below:
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