Movies Interesting Facts 
This year has not been very good for Cannes Film Festival selections. But if you do a lot of research, you may find a rare diamond. Sean Baker’s Anora was one of them, and this Russian-language film was a lot of fun. It is about a sex worker who falls in love with a Russian nobleman. He’s only 21, a boy actually, but she’s older than him, not necessarily wiser. The audience watched the film in a standing ovation for 7.5 minutes, primarily because of its humor. (Also read: The Internet analyzes Kelly Rowland and security guard drama on the Cannes red carpet,
About Anora
In Anora, Mike Madison (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) is 23 years old, and a stripper in New York. When she meets Vanya (Mark Edelshtein), she is attacked by Cupid. He is very wealthy, and takes her to Las Vegas, where the two get married on impulse. Then their troubles begin. Her parents are shocked and send Russian goons to track down the couple and cancel their wedding. It’s a hilarious romance where the gangsters are more witty than vicious.
Baker has made other films including Tangerine. It was shown at the 2015 Sundance, and was shot on a smart phone. The clarity was remarkable.
A pattern to follow?
He loves making films about sex workers. In Tangerine, she made a film about street women in Hollywood. They were standing under tangerine colored lights. Hence the title. Next, he created The Florida Project in which a woman and her daughter grapple with their daily lives.
Baker is now part of the Cannes scene. Red Rocket was featured in the competition and follows a retired porn star who has to camp out of his ex-wife’s sofa set in Texas.
However, Anora marks a change in this script. It is about rich people, although at its center lives a street person. This work reminded me of Pretty Woman or My Fair Lady, where poor women get lucky when rich men fall in love with them. Perhaps as Baker said in a press conference, it’s a Cinderella story.
