Though her name means “light and bright,” those two adjectives are hardly how anyone would describe Ani, Mikey Madison’s titular sex worker with a heart of gold in Sean Baker’s magnificent love story “Anora.” Not because those words aren’t fitting descriptors for Ani, but because she’s far more complex than a couple of attributes you can pull from the etymology section of a mommy blog.
As a writer and director, Baker has dedicated much of his career to elucidating the subtleties of figures like Ani who are often relegated to the background. He’s allowed us to peer inside the fictional lives of trans sex workers on Hollywood Boulevard in his 2015 breakout “Tangerine,” and given us an up-close-and-personal look at a washed-up porn star’s attempt at rebuilding his old life in 2021’s “Red Rocket.” But nothing Baker has made thus far comes close to “Anora,” his Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece primed to make Madison a household name. The dazzling shine of red tinsel woven into Ani’s hair lures you into the film’s whirlwind from the opening sequence. And once you’re in the vortex, enraptured by Madison’s exceptional presence (and the first use of an EDM remix of Take That’s “Greatest Day”), Baker holds you in the film’s joyous grasp for its remaining 139 minutes. Joy rather than euphoria, because as its powerhouse ending shows, the highs of Anora are no ephemeral feeling.
