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Sean Baker’s highly anticipatedAnoracontinues the director’s exploration of a community that is too often trapped in a heightened ’70s setting likeBoogie Nightsor a campy,deliberately explicit movie likeShowgirls.Sean Baker’s projects have done a fascinating and necessary job of examining the sex worker industry from all of its anglesthat Hollywood seems afraid to touch realistically.
Anorais a continuation of that, giving welcome depth to a slew of characters and showing the consequences of their work without ever shaming the people involved. Baker’s documentary style of filmmaking has taken his audience to the fringes of the community and, at points beyond that, to create unflinching experiences not often seen on screen.
Baker’s work to represent trans characters inTangerine, or his depiction of the damage being a sex worker can cause to a normal life, all serve to paint a vivid portrait of an industry misunderstood and scorned for the wrong reasons. Sean Baker’s movies are often graphic and confronting in their portrayal of sex as a transaction, exposing the upsetting realities for workers forced to work against public scrutiny.Anorais set to be a continuation of Baker’s look into thelives of sex workers, for better and for worse. How does Baker show the lives of the community? What do his movies have to say? Here’s what you need to know.
Anora Explores Its Characters in the Same Way as Sean Baker’s Previous Movies
Anora’s life takes a dramatic twist when she impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, catapulting her from the streets of Brooklyn to a world of opulence and scrutiny. As her new in-laws arrive with plans to dismantle the hasty union, Anora must navigate the cultural and social chasms between her past and her present. The film, directed by Sean Baker, masterfully blends sharp social commentary with heartfelt drama, painting a vivid picture of love, identity, and the unexpected consequences of a fairytale gone awry.
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Fans of Sean Baker’s previous works, likeTangerine,The Florida Project,andRed Rocket, can expect a similarly unique view inAnora. Baker’s movies show a variety of experiences and circumstances, but all link in their themes of alienation, love, and the uncomfortable, often funny nature of sex. A Sean Baker character is often working against their perceptions as well as their inability to escape their ingrained behaviors. They are often seen in the shadow of their profession, and while some choose to own it, others understand the burden that comes with it.
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The Florida Project’sdepiction of poverty in a rundown motel focuses on the children of sex workers from their perspective of innocence. Loud music coming from the other room to muffle the sound could mean anything, but Baker leaves just enoughdisturbing truth thereto reveal what’s happening. It’s a reality of people being forced into this line of work because they can’t make money any other way, and Sean Baker’s directing style is both abrasive and gentle.
The Consequences in Sean Baker’s Movies Will Likely Be Seen in Anora
The fact that some of the characters feel the need to hide their work isn’t out of shame necessarily. Others display their professions loudly, like inRed Rocket’sstory about an ex-porn star who tries to scam his way out of his hometown.Red Rocketleans on the more humorous side of Baker’s tone, whichTangerineoften finds too, but this comedy is always softened until all it can be seen as is a tragedy. The more extreme the comedy, the sadder the motivation behind it, and the humanity of the situations in Baker’s movies evolve into desperate attempts to be accepted, disguised as bravado.
Anoraseems set to followin the steps ofRed Rocket, highlighting the superficial glamor that Hollywood rarely looks beyond. It’s like the act that sex workers often put on to convince a client, and Baker’s commitment to excess is outweighed by secrecy and vulnerability. Baker can be gratuitous when showing sex scenes, but there’s a rawness to them that evades the comic and instead chooses the uncomfortably exposing.
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Anora’stale of Ani, played by Mikey Madison, will likely follow a similarly perverse love story if Sean Baker’s other work is anything to go by. Love is sometimes there, locked away beyond the appeal of the moment, but there’s always a morning after — a desperate search for something to justify the risk.
Why Sean Baker Is Such an Important Director
Sex has often been shown in moviesas a mystical act, but more and more movies released today show how it has become commodified and manipulated into a public act of gender insecurity and a desire for some sort of connection. Sean Baker is working to show that in all its ugly truth. Sometimes, the urge to keep pushing the lie catches up with the characters, but sometimes, a moment of connection is all it takes to soften the hyperreality of Sean Baker’s worlds of grandeur.
There’s always a fear of showing yourself for who you are, letting the world you work in control how you act in your normal life.Anora’scontinuation of these themes into an increasingly sex-positive generation allows Baker to go deeper into different forms of love and, of course, sex. This isn’t something he wants to shy away from, and nor should he.
Sex is partly becoming more gentle but also more of a tool for manipulation. In the middle of this are the workers themselves, and, for once, they have a filmmaker known to the mainstream, confronting the realities around their work. It’s refreshing, and ifAnora’sCannes Palme d’Or winis anything to go by, Baker may have performed another movie miracle.Anorais in select cinemas now.
