Anora

In the late 90´s i became very close friend to a working collegue of mine named Robert during my first year working in health care. Not only were we both huge fans of Martin Scorsese films as well as Quentin Tarantino films, we both loved British rock music such as Stereophonics, Oasis and Monaco ( the solo project with Peter Hook basist player from New Order ). During this time he told me that he liked going to a strip club in the Swedish city of Gothernburgh known as Wandas. Of course i knew there were strip clubs in the bigger cities across Sweden but never visited one. So in 1999 i did my first visit with Robert and he would show me around the whole strip club. It was actually quite big with 2 floors. The first floor was of course the strip dance scene itself with a bar and leather sofas. If you wanted to watch the ordinary strip show you could just order a drink and sit in the leather sofas. They also had private rooms if you wanted a bit more private show. On the second floor you found a long hallway with different video rooms ( if you wanted to jerk off to adult films basically ). There was also a sofa infront of a huge TV playing some adult film further down the hallway where an older man in a suit was enjoying himself. Me and Robert basically stayed on the first floor watching the dance shows, and at some occations some of the female strippers would sit down in the sofa we were sitting in just to have converastions. Since that time i returned to visit Wandas with Robert and got to know some of the strippers a little bit better, because they knew we were respectful to the women. Speaking of strippers there have been films made in the past regarding the striptease scene such as the 1996 black comedy Stiptease with Demi Moore, Burt Reynolds and Robert Patrick. I know some people don´t like this film but i have no bigger issues with it, i would say it´s entertaining enough thanks to the great cast. And seeing actress Demi Moore on the strip scene is of course something you don´t turn down. Worth a watch on DVD or VOD if you just want to be entertained by a 90´s classic. Last year i was hearing some really positive reviews from a film called Anora, a film that´s connected to the strip club scene. What really made me curious of this film is the director known as Sean Baker, being a fan of films he have directed in the past. I finally got a chance to sit down and enjoy this film on a physical copy. Is this one of the films you need to experience this spring or is this a film that´s not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Anora "Ani" Mikheeva is a 23-year-old stripper living in Brighton Beach, a Russian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn. Her boss introduce her to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov ( Mark Ejdelstejn ), the young son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, Nikolai Zakharov (  Aleksei Serebyakov ). Vanya is in the United States to study, but prefers to party and play video games in his family´s Brooklyn mansion. Vanya hires Ani for several sexual encounters and pay her 15.000 U.S. dollars to stay with him for a week. Vanya and his entourage fly to Las Vegas, where Anya ask Ani to marry him so that he can obtain a green card instead of returning to Russia to work for his father. Even though Ani is skeptical at first, she aproves his wish because she have geniune feelings for Vanya. This will turn out to be a huge mistake, not only for Ani but especially for Vanya.

If you remember the insane 2012 film known as Spring Breakers and how wild that film was, imagine something similar to that but takes place during strip club scenes and Las Vegas as well and you have a pretty good image of how this film Anora looks like a big part of the runtime. The film changes tone after a while but right from the start it´s a wild ride of nude bodies, sex, alcohol and drugs. So if you are a sensitive person then this is definetely not a film for you. There are several details i feel that this film does right. The portrait of a strip club business feels realistic and how the business works. You get a sense how the female strippers learn how to treat customers just in case they might get a big tip, and if they paid good enough they might be able to cross boundaries of regular rules. The main character of Anora ( played really powerful by actress Mikey Madison, most of you probably recognize from the TV series Better Things ) is a woman who basically lives day by day just to get enough money to survive. Mikey Madison really go all in to portrait the woman of Anora as a lost soul who still have a small dose of dignity left buried deep inside of her. I personally feel this is her strongerst acting performance so far in her career. Regarding the relationship that Anora develop with Russian bad boy Vanya ( played well by actor Mark Ejdelstejn ) you can feel quite early that this is not going to end well. Even when you have all the money to spend, you don´t have to take responsibilities as ordinary young people, at some poing the house of cards will fall down. And that exactly what this film tries to show as well as how destructive relationships might destroy lives. I have to mention the crazy performance of actor Karren Karagulian as Toros, he is not the person you want to upset. There are actually some funny scenes as well when a group go out looking for missing Vanya where i found myself laughing. Anora is a film that really show that happiness isn´t always about money but having real people in your life matters more than any luxuary lifestyle. A very tragic but also funny film as well that show life can be one hell of a roller coaster. Director Sean Baker ( who directed one of my personal favourite films of 2017 known as The Florida Project ) proves once more why he is such a brilliant director capturing a realistic view of the dark sides of humanity while also showing a beautiful portrait of the struggles of a young woman. Anora is definetely a must see if you want to experience something different than most Hollywood films.

Rating: DDDD