Things are going a little too well until a call from Russia and a knock at the door changes the trajectory of the movie. This extended sequence, deeply stressful and riotously funny at the same time, is reason enough to see . But somehow the journey that follows only gets better and more interesting.
is a fairy tale that spoils. An exotic dancer from Brighton Beach, Anora (Mikey Madison), or Ani, as she likes to be called, gets paired one evening with a young man, Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), who requests a Russian speaker. She can speak a little and understand everything and they quickly hit it off, embarking on a whirlwind ride together. First, Ivan hires her by the hour, then for the week for which she commands a cool $15,000 (accounting for inflation that鈥檚 about double what Vivian got in 鈥淧retty Woman.鈥� Edward may have been a successful corporate raider, but he didn鈥檛 have oligarch money.) Ivan even tells Ani he would have paid $30,000.
For as crass and ugly and reckless as it all is, it鈥檚 also something of a joy bomb to watch Ani and Ivan indulge in the youthful hedonism of unlimited funds 鈥� there's drugs, champagne, private jets, luxury suites and, perhaps most importantly, they're having fun. When he proposes and they marry on an impromptu trip to Las Vegas, you almost believe it could work. Then the foundation collapses: Ivan鈥檚 parents find out and the guys who were supposed to be keeping track of the wayward kid, presumably in the U.S. to study, are sent off to fix it, and fast. They have less than 24 hours before Ivan鈥檚 parents land in New York and Ivan has gone missing. Suddenly, 鈥淎苍辞谤补鈥� with its ticking clock, missing kid, anxious goons and determined dancer, turns into a white-knuckle ride that gives a run for its money.
Prior to 鈥淎nora,鈥� I鈥檓 not sure that I was especially concerned with the odyssey of a streetwise exotic dancer who, for a fleeting moment, has everything money can buy. Now I can鈥檛 imagine not having taken the trip, and meeting the colorful ensemble: Anora, Ivan (who is being called the Russian Timoth茅e Chalamet), Igor (Yura Borisov) the thuggish-seeming muscle with a soft voice, kind eyes and a heart of gold, Toros (Karren Karagulian), the very stressed Armenian who was supposed to keep Ivan in line, and Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), Toros鈥� in-over-his-head brother hoping to make a good impression on Ivan鈥檚 family. They aren鈥檛 just bad-guy types, either: They are all fascinating and empathetic in their own right, just trying to do a job for their powerful employers. By the end of one very long night with this motley crew, you might wonder if you鈥檙e even rooting for Ani to get what she says she wants anymore.
a particular knack for transporting moviegoers to places they鈥檇 not ordinarily go, with characters they鈥檇 similarly likely never encounter. Whether it鈥檚 a walking down a less-than-picturesque stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard one Christmas Eve, a right outside the 鈥渉appiest place on earth,鈥� or a who goes home to Texas, he finds wonder, beauty, dark humor and truth in the ugly, the unseen and the unheard. The milieus are gritty, not something anyone would be bragging about on Instagram, and yet feel endlessly more authentic than some other filmmakers indulging in poverty porn.
The biggest handicap of 鈥淎苍辞谤补鈥� is perhaps the hurdle of preconceptions. It seems almost too '90s for a young actor鈥檚 big, serious, awards-buzzy breakthrough to come from getting naked and dancing on a pole. And yet in the hands of Baker and Madison, it works: 鈥淎苍辞谤补鈥� both embraces and transcends the cliches. It鈥檚 not trying to pretend that it鈥檚 not exploitative on some level; that might even be the point. And anyway, you might be surprised just how quickly you commit to this once-in-a-lifetime ride.
鈥淎nora,鈥� a Neon release in select theaters Friday and expanding in the coming weeks, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥渟trong sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language, and drug use.鈥� Running time: 138 minutes. Four stars out of four.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
