"...fucking Helen Keller-ass bitch."

I'm such a sucker for a movie with opening credits. The sentiment of starting with "shut up, you're in good hands, here's some of their names" while Mikey quickly centers the movie, paired with an Altman-esque overlapping dialogue club scene, and topped with the Greatest Day needledrop? Sean Baker, you had me at hello. There's a couple other hallmarks of his movies that Anora hits as well (sex work, street casting, realism in dialogue, use of cell phones, Brittney Rodriguez and Karren Karagulian) but there's two things that felt new.

One, it's more abstracted, the gritty texturalism of Red Rocket or the childish Disney idolatry of Florida Project taking a backseat to empty mansions and abandoned themeparks. It pays off in some respects (the shot of her taking the scarf from Ivan as the sun sets on the boardwalk is one of my favorite of the year for its juxtaposition of desolation and humanity) but it doesn't in others, the people who normally make his works thrum with life forced to the sidelines to make room for humor and plot.

But two, there's the goons. This is Goon cinema, and Ivan, Toros, and Igor's interactions with Ani make the film. Funnier than I was expecting, sadder than I was expecting, with the ending of falling snow and an idling engine drummed into my head with every rhythmic wiper-blade thump.

"Toush."