Tag: transformation

ANORA – Review

Mikey Madison as Ani and Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan, in ANORA. Courtesy of NEON

Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner ANORA follows a Brooklyn exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch and the wild series of events after the oligarch finds out and sets out to annul the marriage. Director Sean Baker wowed audiences with his breakout FLORIDA PROJECT, which told the story of little girl living in a Florida motel converted to cheap weekly rental apartments, but Baker’s other films, often sly comedies set in a world of sex workers and people at the lowest economic rung, are not for everyone. Although there is some of that in ANORA, this one is also a deeply human film about dreams and human connections that takes unexpected turns as it shifts from comedic to touchingly human drama.

Mikey Madison stars are Anora, a Russian American who goes by Ani and works as an exotic dancer at a upscale gentleman’s club in New York. Ani is a fun-loving young woman who parties with her friends from work but lives with her older sister in a tiny house situated under the elevated subway tracks. Ani speaks some Russian, because her beloved Russian grandmother never learned English, so her boss goes to her when a client asks for someone who speaks the language, pulling her off her meal break.

Grumbling, Ani nonetheless go to the table to entertain the young son of a Russian oligarch. Ivan Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn) speaks some English but is more comfortable with Russian, which Ani understands better than she speaks. The two seems to hit it off, partly because of the common language difficulties. Ivan tells her he is 21 but he looks, and acts, much younger. He also tells her his father is a billionaire arms dealer, a scary person, and he’s avoiding him in America. Very taken with Ani, he asks if he can see her outside work, and she agrees.

“Outside work” means sex for money, of course. Ani is very business-like about it but the young Russian heaps her with compliments and is more than willing to pay whatever she asks. The two actually have fun together, besides plenty of sex,, and Ivan asks Ani to be his “girlfriend” for a week, paid of course. They go to parties, hang out with his friends where she seems accepted as Ivan’s girlfriend.

On a trip to Las Vegas, he starts talking about getting married so he can stay in America. When he proposes to her, Ani scolds him, telling him not to kid about that kind of thing. He insists he means it, and they skip off to a little Vegas wedding chapel.

Both Ivan and Ani are euphoric after the wedding, and the film takes on a romantic tone as they seem very much a couple in love. Her new husband heaps praise, and furs and jewelry, on her, and the formerly cynical Ani changes her view of the world as she settles into life in Ivan’s mansion. She even talks of looking forward to meeting his parents, and imaging becoming part of the family they way she has already become part of his circle of friends.

But then the parents find out about the marriage, and they are outraged. The oligarch sends his American representative, an Armenian named Toros (Karren Karagulian), who is supposed to be keeping an eye on his son, to get the marriage annulled and straighten things out. To do that, Toros shows up at Ivan’s mansion (which really belongs to his parents), along with two more guys as muscle, his regular Armenian henchman Garnick (Armenian actor and comedian Vache Tovmaysan) and a new guy, a Russian named Igor (Yura Borisov, who was so excellent in the Finnish romantic drama COMPARTMENT NO. 6), just hired for this job. The trio all expect this to be an easy job but Ani quickly changes that, proving to be a fierce fighter, both objecting to suggestions they are not really married, to efforts to annul the marriage, and even insisting she meet her husband’s parents, her new in-laws. Everything descends into chaos and comedy as this little woman fights back furiously when the two guys brought along as muscle try to manhandle her, impressing particularly the Russian, Igor, a guy who is not looking to join the Armenians crime underworld, and later reveals a fondness for his immigrant grandma.

Stylishly shot and with a compelling pace, ANORA transforms again and again. A trio of thugs show up determined to carry out Ivan’s parents’ demand to break up the couple with an annulment but set off a shift to action and comedy, with a wild chase and plenty of plot twists, when the son goes on the run and the thugs hang onto Ani to find him. A film that starts out like a Cinderella story, morphs into a comic crime chase, but later into a human drama as people and circumstances continue to change.

As Ani proves a resourceful fighter and the thugs search for the runaway Russian son, the film leans into comedy but the characters are also evolving as those action scenes entertain us. Nothing is as straightforward as they, or the audience, thought. Ani in particular goes through self-reflection and changes, as her view of her world shifts again and dreams seem to evaporate. The changes are touching, sometimes heartbreaking, transforming the film into something different than we expected.

The final scene, beautifully acted by Mikey Madison and Borisov, is particularly powerful, and unexpected moment of searing human feeling, a scene that will stay with you and creates a final shift of the film, as Ani becomes Anora, who lingers in our mind.

Both the acting and the writing are strong in this surprising film, as director Sean Baker firmly steers the film, and the audience, though all its character and tonal shifts. The film’s early more comic sections are highly entertaining but it is the character transformation that stay with us, particularly as Ani, then Anora, goes though that moving ending scene that elevates the film into a new level of human feeling.

Sean Baker’s skill as a director is undeniable in all his films but turning that talent to this story about a young woman being transformed by experiences to reach a truer self is breathtaking. It is no mystery why this tale was a big winner at Cannes, or that ANORA has gone on to other awards buzz.

ANORA opens Friday, Nov. 1, in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

A DIFFERENT MAN – Review

Sebastian Stan in A DIFFERENT MAN. Credit: By Matt Infante. Courtesy of A24.

Sebastian Stan plays Edward, an aspiring actor with a medical condition that causes facial disfigurement, whose life is dramatically transformed by a new medical treatment. With a new face and a new life, Edward now has a dream life, but his dream changes to nightmare when he finds himself now shut out of the role he was born to play. In writer/director Aaron Shimberg’s darkly comic horror thriller A DIFFERENT MAN, Sebastian Stan gives an impressive performance in a tale that centers on identity, and the contrast between outward appearance and the inner person, in this very clever, original, horror film-tinged and darkly funny film.

Edward (Stan) struggles to find acting work, and suffers from loneliness and isolation in his cramped city apartment. When a pretty playwright, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), moves into the neighboring apartment and even befriends him, a ray of hope enters his life. Edward is falling for her but crushing insecurity about his looks prevents him from doing anything about it, even when the playwright talks about writing a play specifically for him. Meanwhile, Edward’s doctor tells him about a new experimental medical treatment for his condition, and the actor seizes the chance and enrolls as a test subject.

Treatment transforms his face and his life. Edward looks like a different man, not just “normal” but handsome (this is Sebastian Stan, after all). Strangers greet him warmly, people flock to him, and women fall into his arms. Adopting a new name and concealing his past identity, his future look bright and unlimited. Sudden his fortunes rise, socially and financially, but in changing his identity, he lost track of his pretty neighbor.

But all this dream-come-true comes with an ironic twist, when the actor comes across a play that seems made for him, or who he was in his old life. With any role now available to him as an actor, Edward becomes obsessed by a role that would have been perfect for him with his old face, even though he would now need to wear a mask to play the part. He becomes particularly unsettled when a different man, Oswald (Adam Pearson), who also has a similar facial condition, appears on the scene.

To outward appearances, Sebastian Stan’s character is changed into a different man on the outside but inside he is still who he was. The new guy, Adam Pearson’s Oswald, is a different man inside and out – outgoing, confident, talkative and displaying a range of talents and skills. Plus he’s just fun to be around.

The dark humor is drives this tale but underneath is a challenging topic to tackle in a movie, how people are judged by their outward appearance. This is particularly so, since movies are a medium where appearance dominates so much. However, writer/director Shimberg tackles it well, and brings some personal credentials to making a movie on such a difficult subject, having been born with a cleft lip. Early on, Shimberg reminds us about the bias people have for the more attractive, something well established in research studies, and then goes on to use his film to highlight how people are commonly, rightly or wrongly, by judged by surface appearance, while slyly underlining the differences between the outer form and inner person, through this cleverly funny dark tale.

A DIFFERENT MAN starts out like a drama but there are plentiful horror film references lurking around and the film develops and edgy tension. But then it takes an unexpected turn, slowly morphing into dark, satiric, absurd comedy. Edward’s life is changed repeatedly, first by a ray of hope in the form of a pretty playwright who moves into the next apartment and befriends him, then by his medical miracle that transforms his outward appearance and how he is perceived, and then by the arrival of a different man who looks something like how Edward used to look, who steps into the part that the actor feels born to play but now must wear a mask to play it.

Things get even crazier as Shimberg’s film unfolds. Sebastian Stan does an impressive job with this character who goes through so many changes, in his looks and in his life. Adam Pearson is charming and charismatic throughout as Oswald, which makes Stan’s character’s rage at him all the funnier. Their scenes together are wonderful, and the same can be said for scenes with Stan and Renate Reinsve as Ingrid, whose own flightiness, selective memory, and penchant to pick up and drop romantic partners quickly and with little feeling, adds to the boiling pot. There is plenty of laugh-out-loud moments but Shimberg makes razor-sharp points underneath it all.

A DIFFERENT MAN is an impressive film, sincere and deep but filled with snappy, smart dialog, original, fearless storytelling and fine performances, although it’s quirkiness and dark commentary might not appeal to all. Some might quibble about the pacing, which is a bit slow at times, but really, this is such an original and effective film, that it hardly seems to matter.

If you have a taste for dark humor, an appreciation of original filmmaking and of fine acting, A DIFFERENT MAN is a different film that should not be missed.

A DIFFERENT MAN opens Oct. 4, 2024 in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars