Parents' Guide to Anora

Sean Baker's fascinating drama takes a story full of sex, drugs, and violent threat and deconstructs it to the point that it almost becomes a deadpan comedy, with bittersweet consequences. As with his previous four movies (Starlet, Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket), writer-director Baker turns to sex workers as his subject in Anora, aiming to demystify them. The movie begins in a way that feels almost like a documentary, showing what a night's work is like for Ani as a series of mostly unconnected, fly-on-the-wall moments, rather than telling a specific story. It's routine, all performance. Baker continues in this vein when Ani meets Ivan, even though things start to stir and become more exciting and romantic, which keeps viewers rooted in reality. We're swept away, but we keep one foot on the ground.

When, as one character predicts ("I give it two weeks!"), things fall apart, we stay on Ani. She, the old-school Toros, and the two henchmen (one of whom Ani has severely wounded with a kick to the head) become like a comedy foursome. At first Ani rages and protests and insists that she and Ivan will stay married, but soon the quartet is bickering over whether to walk a few blocks or take the car and about driving and traffic. As night turns to morning and harsh reality sets in, Ani becomes more and more vulnerable, loosening her defenses, showing her hurt, and no longer performing. During the same period, Igor becomes more and more of a central character, a man of few words who has a humanitarian streak, and the pair of them, whether they like it or not, form a special bond. Anora, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, is difficult to describe or pin down, but it's a truly intriguing, even moving experience.