Mikey Madison as Ani dancing at a party in Anora.
The Big Picture Sean Baker’s latest feature, the thrilling and darkly comedic Anora, is about a great many things, with an outstanding breakout performance from Mikey Madison, but, at its core, it’s about class exploitation.
She has no healthcare, no union, and no stability. Thus, it seems like she may have caught a break when the imbecilic Ivan walks into the strip club where she works and she is called to dance for him, as Ani is the only one who speaks Russian. He has lots of money, more than Ani could make over an entire lifetime, and spends it freely. Thus, when he invites her to spend more time with him, she says yes. Eventually, the two get married while on a whirlwind trip to Vegas.
'Aurora' Is Both Thrilling and Tragic After some uproarious scenes that are as electrifying and kinetic as anything Baker has ever done, a tentative bargain is struck. Essentially, Ani will help them find Ivan and get ten thousand dollars in exchange. She has other plans in mind, but there is still nothing to be done until they can all find him.
We don’t know where she came from other than a brief reference to having family in Florida. These are presumably people she hasn’t seen in quite some time, both because she rarely mentions them and is rarely shown not working. Madison expertly captures all the vulgarity and visceral parts of Ani’s personality that she has built as armor for herself just as we begin to see it starting to crack.
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