KT 095: Anora (Sean Baker, 2024)
Armani H. on Sean Baker's latest Palme d'Or winner
Anora, 2024
DCP Courtesy: Kismet
Classification: R18+
Screening at your regular Arthouse / Multiplex from Boxing Day onwards! With preview screenings this week — check your guides.
Words by Armani Hollindale
Writing about this film has proven difficult. I mouth a stale and rather facetious phrase calling the ocean a pond. The letters HQ shine in red neon at the end of a candy-striped corridor. They love this place. Consecutive rooms accumulating private smiles. Drenched in red light - the night expands, nobody really loves anybody.
Anora offers audiences the possibility of a whole. A fantasy. But the character which Mikey Madison reveals is only ever in part. Tendered by an act of preservation; Ani only ever gives part of herself away. I watched it again, to try and get more of her – more out of the film. Give reason to my fears.
Red Rocket launched Sean Baker into the Hollywood movie machine and here it seems his sweet methodology has crystallised. To tweak a small tragedy with style. Rocket-flame is sacred, like a flower placed in the hands of a wounded soldier. The roughage has been gathered and condensed. Sean Baker picks a new card from a deck full of hearts.
I know very little on the subject of sex, let alone sex work. I go back on my word time and time again about how film deals with it. I’ve come to believe that to show things as they are takes away the art of it - leaving us with entertainment, something functional, empty - usually. A male directed and female lead sex work film is - opportunely - a spur to the frank conversation which need to be had by men, however it may be uttered. The adamance that Anora is “pioneering” the representation of sex work in Hollywood, per se, is largely built around Sean Bakers pain-staking loyalty to a research informed approach to characters and a respectful engagement with the community he is depicting, promising the principle ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’.
Baker is cherished for this style of filmmaking, a sort of neo-realism, presenting us with visceral encounters between the sexes, adventurous and inspiring, all while rubbing up against the real thing. Anora’s release accepts a loosening grip on such a classification. The suspended space between reality and fantasy in which we dream, narrows. Priority has shifted from telling a story to proving its moral. It’s only natural, the industry has slipped a white glove onto an already meticulous director and indulged in the impression of respect. The result – a highly polished product which has outgrown its humble beginnings and lent itself to a contemporary sensibility which also fits nicely into the explore page grid. Short and sweet publicity which seems to literally blot out what the film is really about. Lottery style posters plaster the city with hope. Arms around the neck of a scion, smiling to heaven.
Here, ambiguity is his saviour – rescuing him from the complete annihilation of independence. Small details embellish a polished scene. An invisible mention of Ani’s butterfly bejewelled nails set up an extended metaphor early in the film. The butterfly is a symbol of transformation, hope and renewal – double-edged with great fragility. Early historical depictions suggest the transience of luxuries. Indulgence met with loss. Hope and danger, a vital paradox often held in the body of a young woman.
Ani performs the fantasy of love and seduction for her clients at work, until one day, the fantasy is presented to her in turn. Ani can’t deny the possibility of a love experience. A sweet offering of a man seeming both youthful yet providing. Desire held in the possibility of a secure extreme. Hypnotised by a young man who will literally do somersaults for her. Under some kind of spell…as the Cinderella Story goes.
Yet we tend not to consider the prince. In this case modelled as someone we might know; a terminally bored twink, stoned again, finger on the switch, calls his mom a bitch. We might know a man like Ivan, but we want a man like Igor. My ex-boyfriend tweeted, “Where do I find a girl like Mikey Madison?” They’re drip feeding me snippets of information as we speak. I have likely consumed more media surrounding the film than the film itself. I’ve seen the same faces everywhere I look for at least 30 days now. Lily-Rose Depp starts to creep in before Anora even makes it general release. In order to preserve it, I would have to watch it again.
The first American film to win the Palm d’Or since Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life... An unnerving reality I have since devoted myself to understanding, trying to pinpoint its affection. What presents itself as a neatly packaged drama propelled with screwball humour contorts itself in minor details. Humour here is near finite to the parody of cultural and socio-economic differences. Distinctive characters. I excuse it with a Nabokovian affinity. The self-deprecating Russian man who speaks English as a second language. A clever and faultless comedy of errors. Touché. We are tricked into laughter, alarming ourselves until we render the tragic admissible, acceptable even. We’re making rape jokes but taking sex work very seriously. In the end, praise rests on the most divisive.
Baker sets up a fairy tale village on Coney Island with purist iconography. A cherry-picked cast hustle between the club, mansion, casino, jet plane and the candy shop, not a frame wasted in between. Equal extremes of arrival and departure. A touch of violence. Gaping mouths. Bodily fluids. New York actors. Character actors. People with faces. Sean Baker is a starmaker. A Jewish horse-girl cast into the spotlight. All at a feature length to tone your fantasies.
The cinema narrows life down to these intense segments. Pleasure and pain. The promise. Semi-charmed with a completely loveless pendant. Marriage proposes that the violence of love be ended while the strength of love remains. And so, the daily demand for love becomes a painless ritual. But what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. The music will never be like it used to, but I am still being pushed around in line, people swarming around this thing.
We take a knife to the stomach early in the film, but it isn’t drawn until those final moments. Does our heart break for her or for our unmade dream? To dream, to see, or to replicate are the only ways one can make pleasure of substance. Sorrow is the only thing one can really possess. It makes for the closest of bonds. The deepest community is one of sorrow. Another butterfly story. The screen cuts to black, but the music keeps playing.
19 Dec - 25 DEC
NOTABLE SCREENINGS / NEW FILMS WORTH NOTING
New releases are due out on Boxing Day — check closer to date!
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Previewing at select arthouse screens
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham, 2024
Screening at Palace Cinemas, Cinema Nova
Focus on Björk
Fungi: Web of Life 3D
Gisela Kaufmann & Joseph Nizeti, 2023
Screening Sat and Sun
Kids’ Flicks With Feelings
Komaneko: The Curious Cat
Tsuneo Goda, 2009
Screening Monday 23 December
Matinees
Flathead
Jaydon Martin, 2024
Screening Fri, Sat, Sun
No screening this week
No more screenings for the year
ASTOR CINEMA
Do The Right Thing
Spike Lee, 1989
+
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Spike Lee, 2020
Screening Thursday from 7pm
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino, 1994
Screening Friday
Mary Poppins
Robert Stevenson, 1964
Screening Sat
The Mask
Chuck Russell, 1994
+
Catwoman
Pitof, 2004
Screening Sat from 2pm
Die Hard
John McTiernan, 1988
+
Die Hard II
Renny Harlin, 1990
Screening Sat from 7pm
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Henry Selick, 1993
+
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Brian Henson, 1992
Screening Sun from 2pm
Batman Returns
Tim Burton, 1992
Screening Sun
The Apartment
Billy Wilder, 1963
Screening Monday
It’s a Wonderful Life
Frank Capra, 1946
Screening Tuesday
BBBC CINEMA (GALLERYGALLERY BRUNSWICK)
Closed until 2025
No screening this week
CHINATOWN CINEMA
Shut for the week!
Coming back in some variety soon
No screening this week
Events
Check sites for rep titles
Release
Rumours
Guy Maddin, 2024
Screening Daily
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland, 2023
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
Out of Season
Stéphane Brizé, 2024
Screening Daily
Piece by Piece
Morgan Neville, 2024
Screening Daily
No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, 2024
Screening Daily
Ghost Cat Anzu
Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita
Screening Daily
Heretic
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, 2024
Screening Daily
Saturday Night,
Jason Reitman, 2024
Screening Daily
Lee
Ellen Kuras, 2023
Screening Daily
A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Memoir of a Snail
Adam Elliot, 2024
Screening Daily
Memory
Michel Franco, 2023
Screening Daily
Theres Still Tomorrow
Paola Cortellesi, 2024
Screening Daily
The Apprentice
Ali Abbasi, 2024
Screening Daily
Megalopolis
Francis Ford Coppola, 2024
Screening Daily
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat, 2024
Screening Daily
Here
Robert Zemeckis, 2024
Screening Tue
Kneecap
Rich Peppiatt, 2023
Screening Daily
I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun, 2023
Screening Daily
Sasquatch Sunset
Nathan and David Zellner
Screening Tuesday
Cat Video Fest
Will Braden, 2024
Screening Thu
Grafted
Sasha Rainbow, 2024
Screening Wed, Fri
Strange Darling
Jacqueline Lentzou, 2024
Screening Friday
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
Liu Jia, 2024
Screening Mon
DOGMILK DEGUSTATIONS: @ Miscellania
Coming back soon
EXPERIMENTAL FILM CLUB
Listings coming soon
Done for now, will return soon
GAY24 (Bar Flippy’s)
Imogen Binnie's unproduced screenplay "Burnlington, Vermont", as read by a bunch of trans people in the Flippy's beer garden.
Sunday December 22, 2024
HITLIST (9 Gertrude St, Fitzroy)
Shut for now
LIDO / CLASSIC / CAMEO
Events
The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar, 2024
Screening Fri, Sat, Sun
See all programs here
General Release
Heretic
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, 2024
Screening Daily
Rumours
Guy Maddin, 2024
Screening Daily
My Favourite Cake
Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha, 2024
Screening Daily
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland, 2023
Screening Daily
Gladiator II
Ridley Scott, 2024
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, 2024
Screening Daily
Here
Robert Zemeckis, 2024
Screening Daily
Kraven the Hunter
J.C. Chandor, 2024
Screening Daily
Paris, Texas
Win Wenders, 1984
Screening Daily
Saturday Night,
Jason Reitman, 2024
Screening Daily
Lee
Ellen Kuras, 2023
Screening almost everywhere
Memoir of a Snail
Adam Elliot, 2024
Screening Daily
Like My Brother
Sal Balharrie, Danielle MacLean, 2024
Screening Daily
The Apprentice
Ali Abbasi, 2024
Screening Daily
A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Joker: Folie à Duex
Todd Phillips, 2024
Screening Daily
Megalopolis
Francis Ford Coppola, 2024
Screening Daily
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat, 2024
Screening Daily
OVA CLUB
No screening this week
THE MELBOURNE CINÉMATHÈQUE (ACMI)
That’s a wrap — until February 2025!
TOP OF THE HEAP (Tramway Hotel)
No screening this week
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: SCREENING IDEAS
No screening this week
PALACE BALWYN / BRIGHTON / COMO / KINO / PENTRIDGE / MOONEE PONDS / WESTGARTH
Events
General Release
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham, 2024
Screening Daily
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland, 2023
Screening Daily
Out of Season
Stéphane Brizé, 2024
Screening Daily
Rumours
Guy Maddin, 2024
Screening Daily
Gladiator II
Ridley Scott, 2024
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
No Other Land
Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, 2024
Screening Daily
Heretic
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, 2024
Screening Daily
Lee
Ellen Kuras, 2023
Screening Daily
Piece by Piece
Morgan Neville, 2024
Screening Daily
Theres Still Tomorrow
Paola Cortellesi, 2024
Screening Balwyn only
My Favourite Cake
Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha, 2024
Screening Daily
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat, 2024
Screening Daily
No screening this week
No listings this week / click link above to see what’s on (their site too hard to list)
Moana 2
Dana Ledoux Miller, Jason Hand, David Derrick Jr.
Screening Friday
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Fri
Black Christmas — 50th Anniversary
Bob Clark, 1974
Screening Fri
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Brian Henson, 1992
Screening Sat
Ange & the Boss: Puskas in Australia
Cam Fink, Rob Heath & Tony Wilson
Screening Sat
Anora (Preview)
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Sat 21 Dec
Home Alone
Chris Columbus, 1990
Screening Sat 21 Dec
It’s a Wonderful Life
Frank Capra, 1946
Screening Sun and Tuesday
Days Of Heaven
Terrence Malick, 1978
Screening Sun
The Substance — Encore Screening
Coralie Fargeat, 2024
Screening Sun
Paddington in Peru — Preview!
Dougal Wilson, 2024
Screening Monday
Die Hard
John McTiernan, 1988
Screening Monday
Heretic
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, 2024
Screening Mon
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Henry Selick, 1993
Screening Tuesday
Kneecap — Encore!
Rich Peppiatt, 2023
Screening Tuesday
UNKNOWN PLEASURES @ Thornbury Picture House
No screening this week