The art of directing is inseparable from the production process. Many of the most original filmmakers, especially those working outside the factory-like order of the studios of the classic era, devised highly individualized methods of filmmaking and We have achieved a unique aesthetic derived from this. In that respect, director Sean Baker’s new film Anora is exemplary. Along with his remarkable works of fiction, Baker has built a unique system that generates astonishing reality. As with previous Baker films such as “The Florida Project” and “Red Rocket,” the production story of the new film is embedded in the story it tells. What’s especially interesting about Anora is how it illuminates his previous work, its strengths and flaws, and the relationship between the artistry of film and the way he makes it.
“Anora” is primarily set in New York City, specifically Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where the film’s title character (Mikey Madison), who goes by the name Ani, lives. She’s a tough-talking, energetic 23-year-old sex worker who works at a Manhattan club. She is paired with 21 customers – a Russian man named Ivan (Mark Eidelsteyn) – Vanya, goofy and debauched – but she speaks a little Russian (Uzbekistani) (I learned it from my grandmother). Vanya is taken by her and asks to meet her privately. The next day, Ani heads to a swanky, modern mansion behind a guarded gate, yes, also in Brooklyn, where they have sex (he says Ani lost his virginity to her). ). When she asks him how he got his money, he first jokes that he is a drug dealer, which she believes, but then explains that he is the son of an oligarch.
Shortly thereafter, Ani attends a New Year’s Eve party held by Vanya at her home (her parents are in Russia). He offered her $10,000 in cash to be his girlfriend for a week, and after negotiating $15, she agreed. They fly to Las Vegas on his private plane, where they impulsively marry. Vanya’s parents hear rumors of the marriage and contact Armenian priest Toros (Karen Karagulian), a Brooklyn-based fixer and Vanya’s godfather, to have the marriage annulled. Toros sends two strong men, a fellow Armenian named Garnik (Vache Tovmashian) and a young Russian man, Igor (Yula Borisov), to capture the couple, but Vanya escapes and Ani is captured by the three of them. Join the Enforcer on a wild adventure. , looking for him through neighborhoods, boroughs, and cities. Along the way, Ani learns more about Vanya’s weak personality than she ever imagined, and more about her parents’ brutal authority than she ever imagined.
Baker captures the action with an immediacy that comes from his method. He made this film entirely on location. Locations include real strip clubs, mansions, candy stores, restaurants, gas stations, pool halls, airports, hotels, and more. Some venues remained open during filming. As usual, he cast experienced actors alongside non-professional actors, leaving plenty of room for improvisation. The resulting authentic atmosphere is palpable, but the fast-moving action, well-constructed storyline, and energetic performances feel synthetic throughout. Characters move through even the grittiest of spaces, as if moving past backgrounds and CGI green screens. What “Anora” lacks is not physical contact between characters and place, but spiritual contact. Mr. Baker never lets them express what they know or think about the place they live.
Like “Anora,” Baker’s other recent projects feature sex worker protagonists surrounded by working-class characters whose daily struggles over money, work and living arrangements are reflected in the drama. And in those films, he often uses real locations shot verbatim, filtering through the inner lives of his characters as well. (I’ve written just as much about “Red Rocket” and “The Florida Project.”) Baker leaves the actors’ performances as just impressive shows. Because he never allows their improvisations to delve into the observed details or the interesting experiences that emerge from them. The production itself. For example, Baker’s story in an interview about how he got permission to film at an “iconic” Brighton Beach restaurant suggests a richer film premise and dramatic twist than the scenes he actually shot there. Revealing the vision. The story celebrates creative freedom, but such freedom is almost undetectable because the end result is so tightly bound to dramatic logic. In Anora, these dramatic boundaries take on especially pronounced significance because of the cast’s talent and acting excellence.
In “Anora,” Baker falls into one of the most deplorable practices of commercial filmmaking (whether studio or independent): the silent working class, but he makes a difference. I am coming. He lets the characters talk a lot, even if they don’t say much. . Although the film often plays like a comedy, the action occasionally veers into the ridiculous or absurd, with Toros baptizing a baby in a crowded church when he receives a phone call from Vanya’s mother. Partly for that reason, but mainly because the acting has an extraordinary screwball energy and flashy production. The dialogue that accompanies it. Ani is in a ferocious spiral of self-preservation, both physically and verbally. In the film’s most elaborate set, in the mansion’s simple but luxurious living room, she engages in a fierce battle with two nemesis, injuring them with her eerie laughter, and leaving broken glass and broken pieces. Leaves traces of furniture. (Some dress their wounds with bags of frozen dumplings.) Throughout, she speaks quickly and loudly with sublime acerbity and unbridled audacity. Sometimes it’s just funny, like when she tells Igor his name means “hunchback freak,” and sometimes it’s just funny, like when Vanya’s mother calls her a whore and she retorts, At times, it was brutally offensive. I’ll be angry. ”
But the talk always fits into the plot like a cog in a machine. Baker has a finely tuned story sense. The machine operates efficiently, and the characters are essentially conscripted laborers to keep it running. Their emotional lives are not incorporated into the film unless it contributes to the cause. There’s no small talk, no bland conversations, no breaking the mold of the role to dig deep into experiences, memories, ambitions, dreams and ideas. (When Toros criticizes the younger generation on TikTok Instagram, the free-floating opinions emerge in a moment of fear and frustration. It’s a mask, not an argument.) Baker clearly respects Ani, He admires her and looks at her with heartbreaking empathy. Three strong men work under harsh orders and terrifying threats, and Vanya’s harsh but careless upbringing turns her into a fearful, emotional baby. Yet his refusal to give them a free voice turned his very exaltation into a condescension. It’s also empty. The actor, in Baker’s place, has to do most of the work to create the character, which is essentially just the look and mannerisms the actor is giving them – and the rest of the work. The viewer must fill in the remaining blanks through their own deep-seated interests, in the form of emotional labor.
Baker, a director, screenwriter, and film producer, does not allow himself to disrupt the closed system of his own screenplay as a director, allowing the latter role to dominate. It’s a wise decision, and it keeps the film traditional and has certainly contributed to Anora’s success thus far. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, received near-unanimous critical acclaim, and even garnered massive box office success. office is accepting limited initial releases. That’s what makes the film feel like a classic film, giving it a nostalgic, studio-like charm. It wasn’t something that was forced into production by a studio, it was something that was forced into independent production. But Baker’s direction is hampered. Anora is a movie about images, but it’s a movie about movies. This film has a unique look due to its widescreen composition, mainly using 35mm, and the fact that it was mostly shot handheld. Film (including digital video for night scenes). But even here Baker does not film his own stories, even actors. Madison is a genius of energy and transformative virtuosity, Eidelsstein delivers a rare blend of whimsy and pathos, and Borisov displays a soulful gravitas that fills the screen. But Baker’s camera only shows the characters. He never gets close to the actors or stays with them long enough to reveal their own personalities through the solid surface of the script. He shows their efforts and his own. His photographs express, embellish, and tell stories, but they have little identity of their own. They are secondary, dependent, and submissive. An important work of art lurks within “Anora,” but only within the confines of the potboiler. ♦
