Sean Baker’s latest film “Anora”, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival early in this year, is an absurd but ultimately bitter comedy about one female sex worker who turns out to be a lot more naïve and desperate than she seems at first. As foolishly attempting to go all the way for more economic stability in her life, she thinks she can prevail over one increasingly messy circumstance, but there soon comes a harsh dose of reality to strike her, and we are reminded more of how fragile and unstable her social status really is.

The early part of the film establishes the daily life of Anora “Ani” Mikheeva (Mikey Madison), a young and confident high-priced stripper working at some flashy strip club located somewhere in New York City. When she is going through another usual night of hers at the strip club, Ani meets a young Russian lad named Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), and he soon becomes her No.1 client mainly because of being quite wealthy. Not so surprisingly, Vanya gets quite interested in spending more time with Ani outside the strip club, and Ani gladly goes along with that as long as she gets paid enough for that.

As they frequently spend time together, we get to know more about Vanya, who turns out to be your average spoiled rich kid. Living alone in a big house actually belonging to his parents in Russia, he simply needs someone ready to please him at any time whenever he is not having a party or playing a video game, but then he looks a bit more serious about his relationship with Ani. He eventually proposes to her while they happen to be spending a week in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Ani cannot possibly say no as being quite excited about this unbelievable opportunity for social rising.

Of course, she gets herself into a very big trouble not long after they quickly get married and then return to Vanya’s house in New York City. After coming to learn of their son’s sudden marriage, Vanya’s parents in Russia become quite furious to say the least, and they order several dudes working under them to take care of this serious trouble as soon as possible. Ani and Vanya are subsequently visited by these guys, and then Ani finds herself stuck with these guys after Vanya runs away from the scene instead of facing the consequence of his impulsive action.

The main source of comedy in the film comes from how the situation between Ani and the guys sent by Vanya’s parents becomes increasingly silly and pathetic. The guys turn out to be rather clumsy in their attempts to force Ani into a quick divorce, and Ani becomes more adamant about not having a divorce at any chance, after clearly showing them that she is not someone they can easily bend at all. As Vanya’s parents are already coming to New York City, the guys must search for Vanya while holding Ani all the time, and, to our little amusement, she and they frequently clash with each other as both sides stubbornly stick to their respective positions without stepping back at all.

Leisurely rolling this absurd circumstance, the screenplay by Baker, who also edited the film besides serving as one of its co-producers, steadily builds up the story and characters for more comedy and drama. There are a number of broad comic moments including the one involved with a tow truck driver, and then there are also some serious moments as Ani slowly comes to discern how things are hopeless for her from the beginning. Nevertheless, she tries to stick to her position as much as possible – until the eventual point where she comes to see that her resistance was futile from the very beginning.

While usually observing its heroine’s plight from the distance, the movie also indirectly shows some pity and compassion at times. Although they often get exasperated with Ani’s stubborn attitude, the guys sent by Vanya’s parents are merely the employees assigned to do one particularly thankless job for their employer, and the movie makes a brief but sharp point on how they are no better than many other employees including the cleaning staff members of Vanya’s house. As a matter of fact, one of these guys comes to show a bit of genuine kindness to Ani as being stuck with her much longer than expected, and the movie wisely lets us sense the unexpected emotional alliance between them without spelling that out too obviously.

Under Baker’s skillful direction, the main cast members are effective in their respective parts. Mikey Madison, who has been more notable since her minor supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” (2019), brings enough spirit and personality to her character, and her good performance here in this film may lead to more good things to come in her promising acting career. Around Madison, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, and Vache Tovmasyan hold each own place well as the guys hired by Vanya’s parents, and Mark Eydelshteyn looks as pathetically coward and unreliable as required by his crucial supporting character.

Since he drew my attention with “Tangerine” (2015), Baker has steadily advanced as making “The Florida Project” (2017) and “Red Rocket” (2021), and, considering all the attention and buzz surrounding it during this ongoing award season, “Anora” will surely establish him more as one of the most interesting American filmmakers during last several years. To be frank with you, I am still not sure whether it is one of the best films of this year as many reviewers and critics have said, but it is still one of the most interesting films of this year nonetheless, and it is certainly worthwhile to check out just like many of Baker’s previous films.