Anora

The Girlfriend Experience (and Transactional Relationships)

or

"She Happened..." ('Tis a Pity...)
 

Anora—"Call me 'Ani'"—Mikheeva (Mikey Madison) is a Brooklyn stripper working in "The Tenderloin" section of Manhattan. She's very, very good at her job working as a "hostess" getting to know the clientele, encouraging their drinking and their desires, even going so far as to escorting patrons to the nearest ATM when they run out of cash. If the "mark" is really friendly, the "VIP" treatment might be suggested to an area upstairs where the stripper can do a lap dance to make some extra dollars. There's no touching during the lap dances, although given the near-privacy of the area, rules can slip as easily as a halter-top.

 

We learn a lot about "Work-place Ani" in the first few minutes of the film, which is short on exposition but long on nudity. We see her backstage where she has little patience with bullshit. She has one good friend, Lulu (Luna Sofía Miranda), but has a somewhat competitive relationship with the other girls. And she's good at acting: acting interested, acting sensual, acting like she cares, finding the weak spot, using rapier-like flattery, and is quite creative at it. You have to be to score a buck.

But it's only acting. Once the club-wear is off and she's out the door of the HQ Club, she's a dead-eyed street urchin in hoodie and sweats making her way back to her home in the Russian-American community of Brighton Beach, where she rooms with her sister (Ella Rubin)—their relationship can best be described as passive-aggessively strained—and her hobbies appear to be...sleeping. Being a sex-worker in Manhattan is exhausting work. 

So, she's less-than-thrilled when the owner of the club, Jimmy (Vincent Radwinsky) wants her to pay special attention to a "high-roller." This turns out to be 21 year old Russian student Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), who is in the United States for a college education, but that he spends, largely unsupervised, drunk, stoned, obsessively playing video games and shacking up at the huge Brighton Beach mansion owned by his Russian oligarch father. "Vanya" is a child with little impulse control and he falls head over heels for Ani, who, once she sees how free the kid is with Dad's money and doing a little negotiating, agrees to a week-long extracurricular activity at his place for $15,000 cash upfront.

Ani is rarely impressed, but she's awed by the Zakharov complex and the kid is putty in her hands. He gives her clothes, jewelry, the best wine, the best food, and she's charmed by "Vanya's" drunken joie de vivre and his generosity towards her—she could get used to this. She meets his friends, becomes part of a group, all bankrolled by "Vanya", who—impulsively, again—decides to take his posse to Las Vegas on a private jet.

The group stay at a high-end suite, living the highest of lives, when "Vanya" does the craziest thing yet—he asks Ani to marry him. She scoffs. But, he's serious; if they get married he can get a green card and stay in America—he won't have to go back to Russia and work for his father. They can live at his father's American property, and things will just go on as they have been. Ani agrees and they go to a Vegas wedding chapel and seal the deal. He buys her a very expensive wedding ring.

They return home and Ani quits her job at the Club; the other girls are thrilled, but there is the underlying suspicion: "give it two weeks." Things like this, they only happen in the movies. But, the two are clearly besotted with each other and they set up house at the mansion. Life is good.

Until...

 

Until, "Vanya's" parents get wind of the marriage all the way from Russia through social media, and they decide to travel to the States to take their son home. A frantic mother Galina (Darya Ekamasova) calls "Vanya's" Armenian godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian) to get the marriage anulled, get the ring back, kick "the prostitute" out and get their kid ready to get on a plane. Toros is the Zakharov lap-dog—he's been keeping "Vanya" out of trouble and being the family "cleaner" for any mis-deeds—so he sends his henchmen, his brother Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov), to get the ball rolling and Ani out.

And that's when things start to go South. "Vanya" won't let in the bodyguards, but he's so slight that they manage to get in, anyway. Ani begins to protest and Garnik and Igor try to cool things down, but still get things done...which doesn't actually happen. "Vanyas" lamely protests and fusses that he's not getting his way; Ani protests they're married and there's nothing anybody can do about that, then "Vanya" runs out of the house and Ani starts attacking the bodyguards, who, though they outweigh her by two can't seem to corral her—while doing some physical damage to the living room. Finally, Ani just screams and the two guys get so freaked out that they end up tying her up and gagging her.

 "Everything's going to be alright....Yeah."

And that's what the "godfather" sees when he manages to show up at the mansion. Everything's a disaster. They don't have his godson (and they need him to have the marriage annulled) and they have the most uncooperative person in the world as their only hope of finding him before the Zakharov's arrive (which won't be good even if Toros and crew manage to accomplish everything the parents want).

Anora is several things but running in ironic circles. It's funny, it's anarchic, it's dramatic, and it's a bit of a tragedy. It's also a character study. Because as finely drawn as the cluster of characters is, the whole thing revolves around Ani—Anora—and how she copes (and doesn't) with the situation while losing what she considers a good situation. She wants the fairy-tale (okay, he's an oligarch's son and not a king's, so the world's not perfect, okay?) and fights for it, even when she's way over her head. She's not a "hooker with a heart of gold" except for this one guy, and as cynical and worldly as she appears she's a sucker for her own happy ending. She's not helpless, not by a long shot, but she won't be anybody's victim, either. And as coarse and as conniving as she can be, you root for her all the way. Madison's performance goes a long way in accomplishing that.

This isn't Pretty Woman—it's a much more raw world, where few things are implied and the language is "persistent" (I think it gives The Wolf of Wall Street a run for its money in "f" bombs), not is it coy about sex, or even romantic about it. But, it has the verve and the sting of a Preston Sturges movie that pokes at your assumptions and makes you laugh at them at the same time. It's a comedy with the DNA of a drama and you may be questioning why you're laughing at what's being portrayed, but Sean Baker has made the kind of movie that keeps you on the fence while wondering about what could happen next.

 

Anora hooks you.

"Really? You ended with THAT line?"

Emilia Pérez

The Exhumation of the Dead

or

Careful, There's No Railing

 

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Pérez (streaming forever on Netflix) seems purposely designed to make half of America's head explode. A musical with a trans protagonist who decides to quit their life as a drug kingpin and to become a woman. It's both a practical decision—he wants out of the drug trade, which guarantees a short life expectancy and he has a wife and kids that he adores—and a personal one—he wants a clean soul and to be true to himself, and his life in the macho world of the drug-trade just doesn't lend itself to his aspirations. He wants out, both of the way of the cartels and the way he must live his life as a merciless no-nonsense drug lord. 

Easier said than done.

 

Top-lining the film is Zoe Saldaña as attorney Rita Mora Castro, who we first see writing the closing argument for a case she does not believe in, but that ultimately is won, which leaves her conflicted about her profession. She receives an anonymous phone-call that puts it bluntly "Do you want to become rich? I have a proposition for you."

She's directed to a location 10 minutes away, where a car comes to pick her up, a hood is placed over her head, and she is taken to the stronghold of the Los Cabalos drug cartel, run by Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), the man who made the phone-call. His proposition is this: he wants to "disappear", fake his own death, and to have gender-affirming surgery so that he can live the rest of his life as a woman, with his family transported to Switzerland for their safety. Rita's job is to investigate, advocate, and see to the details to accomplish these goals.

She manages to make all the arrangements and walks away a very rich woman. Four years later at a swank dinner party she meets a woman named Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascónagain) and suddenly realizes...it's her client.

Audiard dramatizes the moment by shutting off every decorative light in the room, isolating the two women, who are the only people on Earth (well, besides the operating team) who know Emilia's past. For Rita, it's a moment of horror, because why would they suddenly cross paths just four years later—she fears for her life. But Emilia has other plans for Rita; as she accomplished things so well previously, she hires her to arrange to bring his wife (played by Selena Gomez) and his two children back to Mexico, to live with Emilia, who will masquerade as Manitas' sister. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, a lot, apparently. If half the heads of America have exploded, almost all of them have in the story's setting of Mexico. Director Audiard is French and he filmed the movie in Paris. Only one of the principal actors is Mexican, and the script has been criticized for its confusion of Spanish and Mexican idioms as well as incorrect uses of pronouns, and for those "in the know" the accents are all over the place, needing to have them explained away in some expositional dialogue and for all this the movie is considered something of a pariah in Mexico. There are various controversies at the core of Emilia Pérez, but they've tended to eclipse some of the more problematic aspects to the film.

Before we get into that, the performances, however untechnical in terms of accents, are game. Gascón, a trans actor, is great in both roles she plays, and manages to garner empathy, while retaining an element that makes you suspect she could snap at any minute. Selena Gomez does well with her role as Manitas' wife, who realizes her place as a pawn in the relationship, but has just enough brio to make her own choices when given a long enough leash. But, the stand-out is Saldaña, who has done well for herself in well-established roles even if they're CGI enhanced, but here she gets to show her abilities as singer and dancer and she electrifies at it, while also going through some pretty complex emotions in transition scenes when the professional veneer she maintains drops.

Now, the downside...for a musical, the music isn't that great, for the most part taking the "Hamilton" approach of scatting between beats with lyrics that are better than the ones in, say, Annette, but far from memorable. The piece was first designed as an operetta, so the songs are just syncopated dialog revealing inner thoughts that transactional dialog is too plain to convey and the way they're presented is director-heavy music-video mode, where the camera does most of the dancing.

But, the part of the movie that irritates me is it's very old-fashioned in its way of dealing with the trans issues. To tell you why would reveal too much of the plot, but let's just say there's no such thing as redemption in Emilia Pérez. No second chances. It says, you may live a new life, but you will pay for the sins of the previous one...which, given the fact that the character tries to redeem herself with a charitable organization to provide answers to the families of victims of drug-cartels, is very Old Testament. You could argue that Manitas was a drug-lord, that he's destroyed so many lives she doesn't deserve to atone or to achieve atonement. Point taken. The crimes one then does are a forever-trap, despite secular ideas of reformation or religious ones of penance absolving them.

But, if that's so, it's akin (to the nth degree) to the faux-pas of "dead-naming" a trans person. Does blame transcend sexual identity? Does guilt? And if a person changes their life to atone for the sins of their past, to try to make it right for the survivors, is it atonement, or is it "too little too late." But, somebody just didn't have the chops to "go there." Emilia Pérez completely by-passes any deep-thought for melodrama and a conclusion for complex moral arguments right out of the Hays Code. It's annoying.

There's just enough clutziness to the whole enterprise, that you kind of wish there was a trans director (a Mexican trans director) behind it who might have been a bit more savvy, not only to the possibilities, but also the problems. Audiard has done some great work in the past (Une Prophete and Rust and Bone), but this one, he overreached and stylistic story-telling or satirical elements cannot camouflage the inherent issue of being a bit behind the curve when dealing with gender-politics. 

 

Emilia Perez is content to merely be outrageous. Well, they got the outrage. Just not the kind they were expecting.

Don't Make a Scene: Harvey

The Story: The lead character of Harvey, Elwood P. Dowd, follows his bliss—and to his satisfaction that bliss can usually be found in a bar. There's a great temptation to psycho-analyze, diagnose, or explain, Dowd, but that takes a little bit of the charm out of it. It's meant to be a comedy, after all, but a cursory look at it shows that it's a comedy about grief. Dowd's parents have died, after years of care-taking for them, and he's at loose ends, trying to fill his days with activity—to keep life interesting, to make it full of event, because (although he doesn't say it) life is short and you shouldn't waste your time.

 

But, something snapped in him, and although he's not completely out of touch with reality, he has (he says) "wrestled with (it) for thirty five years...and I'm happy to state that I won out over it."

 

Sure, there's a lot of self-medication involved, but Elwood is content—I wouldn't go so far as to say happy—in his little bliss-bubble. He has no regrets, no paralyzing self-doubt, no existential crisis, and a certain veneer of acceptance, which is the last stage of grief.

 

I found this little snippet of a CBC interview with Mary Chase, who wrote Harvey  (and won the Pulitzer Prize for it), in an article about her in "Irish American Magazine" in which she talked about the play's inspiration:  

Across the street from our house was an apartment house. As I was leaving every morning at 8:15 with my boys, a woman would emerge from the door of the apartment house and go in the opposite direction, to the bus to go downtown to work. I didn’t know the woman, but I heard she was a widow with one son in the Naval Air arm who was a bombardier in the Pacific. One day, I heard that her son was lost. Things like that were happening to so many people then, it wasn’t what jolted me so much as the fact that in a week or ten days I saw this woman leaving the apartment house, going a little more slowly to catch the bus to go back to work. She began to haunt me. Could I ever think of anything to make that woman laugh again? I knew she wouldn’t laugh at a comedy about sex or money or politics. I kept looking for ideas and rejecting them. Then, one morning, I awoke at five o’clock and saw a psychiatrist walking across our bedroom floor followed by an enormous white rabbit and I knew I had it. 

Well, she had something. But, the nugget of the interview was she wanted to write something that would make that grieving mother laugh again, despite the grief, despite the loss. And Harvey was the tonic...with or without mixed with anything else.

 

Here's one of the funniest of the sections of Harvey to me (it makes me laugh out loud every time I see it). 

 

The Set-up: "Dowd's the name. Elwood P." (James Stewart). Mr. Dowd would appear to be a perfectly normal gentleman of a certain age. However, his sister (Josephine Hull) and niece (Victoria Horne) are trying to have him committed. Dowd ("Elwood P."), you see, is causing a hitch with sister Veta's social plans and attracting any "gentleman callers" to her daughter Myrtle May. Elwood, it seems, scares them off. It's not that he's a monster or anything like that. It's just that he's a bit of a tippler—he drinks, and quite well—and seems to think he's attracted the attention of a Celtic pooka-spirit in the form of a 6' 3½" white rabbit...named "Harvey."

Well, as sanitarium visits go, this one went a little crazy. The seemingly benign and guileless Elwood got off scot-free, while his peripatetic sister got put in the rubber room, leading to the sacking of sanitarium Dr. Raymond Sanderson (Charles Drake), and to make things right, he and nurse Kelly (Peggy Dow) have tracked Dowd to a local drinking establishment only to find that he's drinking alone; his guest Dr. Chumley (Cecil Kellaway), who runs the sanitarium, has left for another taproom...in the company of...Harvey.

 

Action! ("When?")

 

Action.

 

MED CLOSE SHOT AT BAR INT. CHARLIE'S PLACE 

Sanderson, Wilson & Kelly rush in thru doors b.g. & come forward -

Sanderson looks about - Mr. Cracker steps to him - talk - camera dollies in closer - Wilson leans on Mr. Meegles' shoulder - Meegles shoves him away - Kelly steps forward - speaks to Cracker - Cracker points o.s. - 

CRACKER - Well what'll it be, folks? 

SANDERSON - We're looking for someone. Two men-- 

WILSON - Yeah - a tall short one - and a thin fat one. 

WILSON - Wh - I'm so nervous I don't know what I'm saying. 

SANDERSON - One man is short and middle- aged - 

SANDERSON - the other is much taller and younger - 

SANDERSON - they might have been here about four hours ago. 

CRACKER - Nope - can't say that I have. We been runnin' to medium sizes all evening. 

KELLY - The tall man was soft-spoken and sorta polite. His name is Dowd. 

CRACKER - Oh, Dowd? Why didn't you say so? He's here now - over in the back booth.

18 MED HIGH SHOT INT. BAR (CRANE SHOT) Sanderson, Wilson & Kelly make way forward thru dancing couples to Elwood who stands by booth - Wilson grabs his lapels - Sanderson & Kelly push him away from Elwood - camera cranes down closer as they talk - Wilson goes to b.g. thru crowd - Elwood reaches o.s. for bouquet of flowers which he hands to Kelly - she is pleased & surprised - they talk - Elwood invites them to join him - Kelly starts to move forward into booth - 

WILSON - Is he alone? 

CRACKER - Well, there's two schools of thought, sir. 

WILSON - If that crackpot did anything to Dr. Chumley, I'll knock his teeth down his throat. 

SANDERSON - No rough stuff, Wilson. Psychology - I'll do the talking. 

ELWOOD - Well I've been expecting you. 

WILSON - All right where's the doctor? 

WILSON - What'd you do with him? 

SANDERSON - Wilson! 

SANDERSON - Wilson, why don't you take a careful look around the place? 

ELWOOD - Uh, why don't you do that, Mr. Wilson, although I don't believe it's for sale.

ELWOOD - Miss - Miss Kelly - 

ELWOOD - these are for you. 

KELLY - Why thank you, Mr. Dowd. 

ELWOOD - It's a pleasure my dear. 

ELWOOD - You know, doctor, after what happened this afternoon - these flowers really should be from you, shouldn't they? 

SANDERSON - Yes, but... 

ELWOOD - Well - uh - now - won't you join me? 

SANDERSON - Oh, Mr. Dowd, I'm afraid we can't do that. The situation has changed since this afternoon, but I urge you to have no resentment. 

SANDERSON - Dr. Chumley is your friend and he only wants to help you. 

ELWOOD - Well isn't that nice of him. I'll be very glad to help him, too. 

SANDERSON - You know we all must face reality, Dowd, sooner or later. 

ELWOOD - Uh huh - 

ELWOOD - Well, I wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, doctor,

ELWOOD - and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it. 

KELLY - Mr. Dowd, where is Dr. Chumley? 

ELWOOD - Well not knowing, I cannot say. Wish I could. 

ELWOOD - M-Miss Kelly, I don't like to see you standing - 

SANDERSON - Sit down, Kelly. 

19 CLOSE UP IN BOOTH AT CHARLIE'S (NIGHT) Kelly sits f.g. - Sanderson sits by her -

Elwood sits facing them & camera - talk - couples dancing b.g. - Bartender comes on - stops by Elwood - talk - Sanderson concerned - 

ELWOOD - There we are! 

ELWOOD - Now! Let's all have a drink. 

SANDERSON - All right. Dr. Chumley did come in here to get you earlier this evening? 

ELWOOD - Yes. Yes, he did. And I was delighted to see him. Well -- 

CRACKER - What'll it be, Mr. Dowd? 

ELWOOD - Uh - uh - 

ELWOOD - martinis? 

SANDERSON - Uh - but that was four hours ago. 

3 CLOSE UP ELWOOD Serious - turns & holds up three fingers to bartender, partly in scene - bartender exits - Elwood smiles off - 

ELWOOD - Where has the evening gone to? Four-- 

ELWOOD - Three martinis, Mr. Cracker. 

WILSON O.S. - Hey, I looked all -- 

4 INT. BOOTH Sanderson & Kelly f.g. - Elwood seated facing them & camera - Wilson coming on at side - talk - Wilson annoyed - 

WILSON -- over this joint! There's no sign of the doctor! What'd'ja do to him? 

SANDERSON - That's what we're trying to find out. What happened then, Mr. Dowd? 

ELWOOD - Well, I -- then introduced Harvey to the Doctor and he sat down in the booth with us. 

ELWOOD - Let's see - Harvey was sitting here -- 

ELWOOD - and the Doctor sat opposite Harvey so he could look at him.

WILSON - Who's Harvey? 

KELLY - A white rabbit - six feet tall. 

WILSON - Six feet?! 

5 CLOSE UP ELWOOD Speaks pleasantly - 

ELWOOD - Six feet three and a half inches. 

ELWOOD - Now let's stick to the facts. 

6 FULL SHOT BOOTH Wilson standing by Sanderson - Kelly f.g. - Elwood sitting opposite - talk - couples dancing b.g. 

SANDERSON - Now what happened after you introduced Dr. Chumley to Harvey? 

ELWOOD - Well, uh - Harvey suggested that I buy him a drink, and knowing that he doesn't like to drink alone, I suggested to Dr. Chumley that we join him. 

SANDERSON - Yes? 

ELWOOD - We joined him. 

7 CLOSE UP IN BOOTH Kelly & Sanderson seated f.g. - Wilson standing by Sanderson - serious - talk - 

SANDERSON - Go on. 

ELWOOD O.S. - We joined him again. 

WILSON - Yeah - then what? 

8 FULL SHOT BOOTH Sanderson, Kelly & Elwood seated - Wilson standing - talk - Elwood moves over in booth - Sanderson speaks sharply to Wilson - Wilson sits by Elwood, not liking it - couples stop dancing in b.g. - 

ELWOOD - Then the other matter came up. 

WILSON - Yeah. Now we're gettin' somewhere! What other matter? 

ELWOOD - Eh - 

ELWOOD - Mr. Wilson - I - I don't like to see you standing. Wouldn't you - wouldn't you join us here? 

WILSON - Yeh - who, me? 

ELWOOD - Yes. 

SANDERSON - Sit down, will you, Wilson? 

ELWOOD - Sit right down here. 

KELLY - You say this other matter came up, Mr. Dowd? 

9 CLOSE UP IN BOOTH Wilson & Elwood seated at far side of table facing Sanderson & Kelly - three turn to look as Elwood points off as he talks - three turn to him - listen as he talks - Elwood amused - Wilson shouts angrily - Elwood retreats - bartender serves drinks - exits - 

ELWOOD - Yes. There was a beautiful blonde woman - name of Mrs. Smethills and her escort 

ELWOOD - seated in the booth directly across from us. 

ELWOOD - Well, Dr. Chumley went over to sit next to her, explaining to her that they had once met -- 

ELWOOD - in Chicago. 

ELWOOD - Then her escort escorted Dr. Chumley back here to Harvey and me - 

ELWOOD - and tried to point out that it would he better for Dr. Chumley to mind his own affairs. 

ELWOOD - Does he have any? 

WILSON - Does he have any what? 

ELWOOD - Does he have any affairs? 

WILSON - How -

WILSON - would I know?! 

SANDERSON - Shut up, Wilson. Go on, Mr. Dowd. 

ELWOOD - Well, uh -- Thank you, Mr. Cracker. Uh - 

ELWOOD - Mrs. Smethills' escort seemed to get more and more depressed as he kept looking at Dr. Chumley. 

ELWOOD - So Harvey and I felt that we should take the Doctor somewhere else 

ELWOOD - and Harvey suggested Blondie's Chicken Inn, but uh -  

ELWOOD - the doctor wanted to go to Eddie's. And while they were arguing about it, 

ELWOOD - I went up to the bar to order another -- 

10 CLOSE UP KELLY & SANDERSON (SIDE) Listening intently - 

ELWOOD O.S. -- drink, and when I came back here they were gone. 

11 CLOSE UP IN BOOTH Elwood & Wilson seated at far side of table facing Kelly, Sanderson & camera - Wilson protests loudly - Elwood turns to Wilson as he speaks - 

WILSON - You don't believe that story about the Doctor sittin' here talkin' to a big white rabbit, do you?! 

ELWOOD - Well, why not? Harvey was here. 

ELWOOD - A-at first, Doctor Chumley seemed a little frightened of Harvey - but that gave way to admiration as the evening wore on. 

ELWOOD - "The evening wore on." 

ELWOOD - That's - that's a very nice expression, isn't it? 

ELWOOD - With your permission, I'll say it again. 

ELWOOD - "The evening wore on." 

12 CLOSE UP WILSON & ELWOOD (HIGH) Favoring Wilson as he speaks angrily - grabs Elwood's coat lapel - camera tilts up as he rises, pulling blackjack out of pocket - Sanderson rises into scene & grabs Wilson's arm - couples dancing b.g. - 

WILSON - And with your permission, I'm gonna knock your brains out!

WILSON - Now look, you did somethin' to Dr. Chumley, 

 

WILSON - and I'm gonna find out what it is!

 

Harvey

 

Words by Mary Chase and Oscar Brodney and Myles Connolly

 

Pictures by William H. Daniels and Henry Koster

 

Harvey is available on DVD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.