Tag: reviews

Director continues his obsession with sex workers 

New York stripper Ani (Mikey Madison, right) enjoys a lavish lifestyle provided by new boyfriend Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) in Anora.

By Richard Ades

Sean Baker is fascinated by folks who make their living in the sex industry. For evidence, look at his last three films, which featured a trans sex worker (Tangerine, 2015), a down-and-out stripper (The Florida Project, 2017) and an aging porn star (Red Rocket, 2021).

So it’s no surprise that the writer/director’s latest flick again centers on someone plying a corner of the sex trade. Anora may differ from its predecessors in other ways, but Baker’s preoccupation with the world’s oldest occupation remains the same.

When we first meet the title stripper (Mikey Madison), who goes by the nickname Ani, she’s confidently hawking drinks and lap dances at a New York club. Then she meets a customer named Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), who turns out to be the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.

Faster than you can say Pretty Woman, Ani’s life undergoes a sea change. Swept away by the 21-year-old’s boyish charm and fun-loving ways, not to mention his bottomless wallet, she’s soon enjoying (paid-for) sex, drugs and raucous parties in his luxurious mansion.

Obviously smitten, Vanya then offers Ani $10,000 in exchange for a week’s worth of exclusivity, and she happily accepts—though only after he meets her counter-demand of $15K. The week includes an extravagant trip with friends to Vegas, where Ani and Vanya engage in more sex, drugs and partying before ending up where inebriated Vegas visitors often end up: an all-night wedding chapel.

And they both live happily after ever, right? Nope, because this isn’t Pretty Woman, despite its initial similarities.

Vanya is soon contacted by his father’s fixer, Toros (Karren Karagulian), who warns him that his parents will never accept his marriage to a woman they consider a prostitute. In an attempt to squash the union, Toros then forces his way into the New York mansion accompanied by hired goons Garnick and Igor (Vache Tovmasyan and Yura Borisov). And chaos ensues.

Anora has been called a romcom, but it’s hard to see how it qualifies. What passes for romance often seems more like a business arrangement—for instance, Ani accepts Vanya’s proposal only on the condition that he put a 3-carat ring on her finger. And as for comedy, the flick does feature gobs of near-slapstick violence and property destruction, but they result in laughs only if you can ignore the threatened disaster that produces them.

What this is, actually, is a Sean Baker film, in which success is a distant goal, and mere survival is a hard-won commodity. As stated earlier, though, it’s not quite like previous Baker films.

While its predecessors offer quiet moments and revealing dialogue that help us understand the characters, much of Anora is a cavalcade of frantic scenes featuring partying, screaming and endless F-bombs. For many, this adds up to an impressive achievement, as the film has already won the Cannes Palme D’or and is rumored to be a shoo-in for multiple Oscar noms.

Personally, while I appreciate Baker’s usual sympathetic treatment of societal underdogs, I wish he had exercised a bit more restraint in terms of tone—and in terms of length, especially during the flick’s repetitive second act.   

Back on the plus side, the film’s strengths include its cast, especially the actors in the two lead roles. In very different ways, Madison’s Ani and Eydelshteyn’s Vanya are both forces of nature.

Gratifyingly, the film also boasts a strong and emotionally complex ending. Though Pretty Woman fans might be disappointed, it should make Baker fans feel right at home.

Rating: 3½ stars (out of 5)

Anora (rated R) opens Nov. 1 at theaters nationwide.

Mobility-impaired Norwegian discovers life, love through gaming

As a boy dealing with a debilitating medical condition, Mats Steen often escaped into the virtual world of gaming. (Photo by Bjorg Engdahl Medieop/Netflix)

By Richard Ades

Growing up with a degenerative muscular disease, Mats Steen found it harder and harder to take part in everyday life. As a result, the young Norwegian spent most of his time playing video games.

“His world seemed so limited,” said his father, Robert.

Finally, at the age of 25, Mats succumbed to his condition. That’s when Robert and his wife, Trude, realized that their son’s world hadn’t been so limited after all.

The reason is revealed in Benjamin Ree’s unconventional documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.

The film explains that Robert, after losing Mats in 2014, announced the sad news to followers of his son’s blog, “Musings of Life.” The grieving father expected that to be the end of it, but he soon was inundated with condolences from people around the world who had come to know Mats through their shared love of the video game World of Warcraft.

In the real world, the adult Mats had spent his days in a wheelchair, unable to take care of his most basic needs by himself. That much, his parents knew.

What they didn’t know was that once his wheelchair was pushed up to the computer, Mats had entered the virtual world and become Ibelin, a muscle-bound hero who busied himself sprinting through verdant landscapes, fighting monsters and forming bonds with his fellow avatars—bonds that eventually evolved into real-life friendships.

Ibelin (right), Mats Steen’s virtual alter ego, spends time with Rumour, the avatar of a Dutch girl named Lisette.

As in Ree’s 2020 documentary, The Painter and the Thief, the director tells this fascinating story in a way that surpasses genre conventions.

In the early moments, Mats’s boyhood and young adulthood are captured through a combination of home movies and interviews with his parents and sister, Mia. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Later, though, the film immerses itself in images and characters derived from Mats’s favorite video game.

With the help of material gleaned from World of Warcraft archives, Rees uses animation and voice actors to recreate scenes from Mats’s online life.

In some cases, they’re tender, as when he first meets the flirtatious Rumour, the avatar of a Dutch girl named Lisette. In other cases, they’re painful, as when Ibelin lashes out against other avatars. Determined to keep his health problems to himself, Mats hides the fact that his character’s flintiness stems from his own frustration over his worsening condition.

In his better moments, though, Mats’s virtual alter ego could be kind and thoughtful. Interspersed with the animated segments are interviews with Lysette and others that reveal the ways in which Mats affected their lives for the better. The result was that their make-believe relationships grew into actual friendships—friendships that became all the more passionate once Mats finally revealed his real-world challenges.

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin benefits greatly from Rasmus Tukia and Ada Wikdahl’s expressive animation and Tore Vollan’s subtle score. Combined with Ree’s innovative approach to documentary-making, they turn a unique story into a rewarding and moving experience.  

Rating: 4½ stars (out of 5)

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (PG-13) will be available through Netflix beginning Oct. 25.

Former Mr. Maisel again makes jerkiness palatable

Andy Singer (Michael Zegen, right) is forced to spend a hectic day with his daughter, Anna (Kasey Bella Suarez), in Notice to Quit.

By Richard Ades

As the cheating husband who drove his wife to a life of comedy in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Michael Zegen proved he can play a cad without losing the audience’s sympathy. By the end of the series, in fact, we were rooting for him almost as much as we were for his joke-telling ex.

In the comedy-drama Notice to Quit, as actor-turned-real estate agent Andy Singer, Zegen again relies on his natural likability. So, it seems, does first-time writer/director Simon Hacker.

Perhaps more than he should.

To be blunt, Hacker gives us almost no reason to cheer for Andy, an ethics-challenged New Yorker who’s down on his luck. To name just one of his vices, he regularly makes extra bucks by stealing appliances out of vacant properties and selling them to a ragtag gang of thugs.

Then, just as Andy is being evicted from his apartment because he’s behind on the rent, 10-year-old daughter Anna (a relatable Kasey Bella Suarez) shows up and wants to spend the day with him. She’s mad because her mom (Andy’s ex) is moving to Florida, and she doesn’t want to go.  

So how does Andy react to the presence of the daughter he hasn’t seen in months? Not well. In fact, he doesn’t want to be bothered and unsuccessfully tries to palm her off on his retired father (Robert Klein).

To some extent, it’s understandable that Andy can’t deal with Anna on this day, as he’s desperate to scrape together enough bucks to avoid ending up on the street. Mainly, though, his lack of filial devotion just makes it that much harder to care about him.

That is, it makes it harder for us to care about him. For her part, Anna seems to love her dad and enjoys this rare opportunity to spend time with him. Why? Did they have a close relationship in the past, when her parents were still together?

Hacker’s script never explains, any more than it clarifies just why we’re supposed to see Andy as anything other than a self-centered scumbag. And yet we are, because it quickly becomes obvious that the film has something warm and fuzzy in its long-range sights.

When that something arrives, it lands with all the impact of a wet noodle, both because it was telegraphed well in advance and because it wasn’t earned. It’s clear that Hacker wants us to care about what happens, but it’s equally clear that he doesn’t know how to make us care.

Well, with one exception: He lucked out by casting Zegen as Andy, who retains at least a portion of our sympathy even though he doesn’t deserve it, and Suarez as Anna, the daughter who loves him for no apparent reason. The chemistry these two create is the flick’s main selling point.

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Notice to Quit (PG-13) opens Sept. 27 in theaters nationwide.