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For a long time, Sean Baker has made movies where slippage with reality is the point.
Many of his actors are first-timers.
His films tend to be skeptical of the system.
This pushes her toward sex work anyway, and she ends up losing custody of her child.
This is not something that Baker has been eager to confirm.
The fact that both Democracy Now!
The Anora Reader
Everything About Anora
Which makeshis latest film,Anora, an outlier.
Well, maybe not in love.
He asks her to make a house call for sex and she likes him enough to say yes.
When she sees his Brooklyn mansion, she likesthatenough to say yes again.
For him, marriage means a hot girl and a green card.
For her, its a ticket out of her life.
You hit the lotto, bitch!
saysone of her friends at the clubwhen Ani goes back to clear out her locker.
We know by now thatAnoras an odd-couple story, but its not the odd couple we expect.
(The Taiwanese filmmaker later produced and acted in several of Bakers films.)
(No speaky English?
Really its the former: a straight-ahead hierarchy of the server and the served.
In her mind, shes a hustler who knows her worth; why shouldnt she join Ivans family?
Its up to the goons to enlighten her.
He shamed his family by marrying someone like you, Toros yells at Ani.
He threatens to have her arrested Im sure you already have a criminal record.
One, two, three, youre in jail and calls her a hooker and a prostitute.
Hes also the first one to level with her: Her husband is a nightmare.
I am telling you, you do not know this guy, he says.
Ive been dealing with his shit since he was 6 years old.
His parents have yet to be seen.
That leaves Ani and the henchmen, stuck together.
They pile into Toross Suburban and start looking.
Ani smirks (Oh, yeah?
), but it really might be true.
I want to go back to Armenia!
Igor stands apart from the brothers.
Even if he understands the danger shes in better than she does.
Of course, aRussian oligarchis also an easy bad guy for a filmmaker shy about politics.
A palatable choice that neither Democracy Now!
nor Ben Shapiro would dispute.
(New Yorkprofiled their daughterback when she was touted as the Russian-American Paris Hilton.)
But its hard to ignore it in a country more divided by the day.
Theres also no ignoring that Baker gave himself room to punch up.
Ani and Ivan were never going to work.
Ani and Igor, however you start to wonder.
Theres a frisson between the two from their earliest scenes together.
Hes attracted to Ani.
We watch him attempt to care for her, undeterred by Anis bitterness.
Late in the film, the two find themselves alone.
Igor turns to her with words of comfort and solidarity.
Its good that youre not part of this family, he says.
Anis not about to give him that: Did Iaskfor your fucking opinion?
