As the dust has settled on the battlefield that is Hollywood’s award season, one film has come out on top, and by quite a large margin. Sean Baker’s Anora, has been crowned the cinematic darling of 2024 ever since it first premiered at the Cannes film festival, where it won the Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded at the festival. The judging panel at the Academy awards shared the same sentiment where the film walked away with a total of 5 awards – Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay.
The film is about Ani (Mikey Madison), a sex worker from Brooklyn, who meets Yvonne, the son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn) and what happens when they elope, and his family finds out. Suffice to say the implications of such a marriage alone cause a myriad of problems for all involved. The events that ensue are bursting at the seams with boisterous intensity and range from absurdly hilarious all the way to tragically heartbreaking.
The film starts off with a very raw and raunchy portrayal of sex work, nothing is held back as we get to see what Ani’s transactional based world consists of. As the film progresses the layers which Ani’s character was supposed to have, struggle to reveal themselves to the viewer. She does however develop from a character who’s hard to sympathize with into one you truly feel for by the end. Anora delves into themes of superficiality, self-recognition and self-acceptance and manages to dive into them with grace, effortlessly. What might seem like a simple script at first opens up to reveal a thorough look at the lived experience of sex workers and how stigma, imposed by those with power, can strip the humanity from anyone.The titular character is brought to life by Madison but is quite weakly written. In many instances Ani feels like an accessory in her own movie, but maybe that’s the point. I would’ve liked to see the humanity of the character portrayed on screen rather than it being merely implied.
It would not be improbable to declare Anora as Sean’s magnum opus especially on the themes and messages he has been trying to portray in his films over the years. The majority of his previous works, such as Red Rocket (2021), The Florida Project (2017), and Tangerine (2015), all explore the subject of sex work and those encompassed in it. Such a stigmatized topic requires a certain finesse to do it justice and adequately portray it on the big screen. Luckily, Baker masterfully pulls it off.
Only time will tell whether this film will have the same staying power as that of Sean Baker’s other films. Personally, The Florida Project (2017) remains at the top of my list. But with the third act of Anora being as impactful as it is, I would not be surprised if Baker’s latest will have the ability to stick around the minds of moviegoers for years to come.
★★★☆☆
By Kris Bence
