By Seth Lukas Hynes
Anora
Starring Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshtein and Yura Borisov
MA15+
4/5
Written and directed by Sean Baker, Anora is a solid but slightly overrated film let down by a somewhat insubstantial main character.
Ani (Mikey Madison), a Brooklyn sex worker, falls in love with and impulsively marries Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch, but when his parents find out, they travel to America to demand an annulment.
Featuring witty dialogue and tight editing, Anora is a romantic dramedy that smoothly shifts gears to a psychological thriller later on.
The first act is a deliberately gaudy kaleidoscope of sex, drugs and partying, which makes the second-act comedown all the harsher, as the Zakharovs’ cronies close in and Vanya turns out cowardly and unfaithful.
After the harrowing yet darkly funny home invasion scene (which took up over a quarter of the film’s 37-day shoot), the second act may drag for some viewers, but I enjoyed the begrudging camaraderie that develops between Ani and the equally miserable Zakharov henchmen as they scramble across town to find Vanya.
Yura Borisov received a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as Ivan, a burly but sensitive man of few words who clearly cares for Ani.
The third act is low-key excruciating, as the situation spirals out of Ani’s hands and she tries to stand up to Vanya’s sociopathic mother Galina (Darya Ekamasova).
It’s important to show nuanced portrayals of sex workers in media, and Madison shows incredible emotional fortitude and physical commitment to her role, but Ani just isn’t a very interesting protagonist.
She is assertive, shrewd and genuinely loves Vanya, and that’s pretty much it; we only really know Ani from her job as a proactive sex worker, and the effective suspense of her agency being stripped away has the side-effect of making her very reactionary.
As with Michael Fassbender versus Leonardo DiCaprio in 2016 and Austin Butler versus Brendan Fraser in 2023, Demi Moore from The Substance should have won the Oscar this year instead of Mikey Madison.
As Elisabeth Sparkle, Moore conveys a rich emotional spectrum: from wistful nostalgia over her past glory, to self-loathing and desperation, to bitterness at the misogynistic industry that left her behind and the young clone usurping her life, to vengeful insanity, often under heavy, macabre prosthetics.
Madison does a great job in Anora, but Moore in The Substance delivers a more varied and engrossing performance of a more complex character, and so deserved the Best Actress Oscar.
As for the Best Picture Oscar, Anora is a finely-crafted, cleverly-written film that only really stands out through its talented new star and (genuinely important) respectful view on sex work.
There are many great dramas like Anora every year, but you don’t get a grand but intimate space epic like Dune Part 2 or especially a feminist body horror masterpiece like The Substance very often.
While I hope I’ve made a pretty objective case for why Moore should have won Best Actress — her performance has far more dramatic meat on its bones — it doesn’t mean much to say that
Anora, which is so incredibly different from Dune or The Substance, is the better film, does it?
Very good but not Best Picture good, Anora is currently playing at the Healesville Memorial Hall.
