(Europa Press). American filmmaker Sean Baker premieres this Thursday, October 31, his film ‘Anora’, recent winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last May, compared by critics to ‘Pretty Woman’ because of the similarities between the plots. “I didn’t realize we had similarities until the first day of production. Someone commented on it and I realized it made sense, because what I was doing, especially in the beginning of the film, was presenting the audience with a fun, romantic comedy. I appreciate the comparison because people love ‘Pretty Woman’,” says the filmmaker in an interview with Europa Press. ‘Anora’, which participated in the San Sebastian Festival in the Perlak section, was the big winner at Cannes and will allow Baker, by his own admission, to make the films he wants the way he wants. “I’m an independent filmmaker and I’m going to remain an independent filmmaker forever. All the way through,” he says, when asked if he feels outside the Hollywood system.
About ‘Anora
The film follows the story of Anora (played by Mikey Madison), a young Brooklyn sex worker, who meets the son of a Russian oligarch whom she impulsively decides to marry within days of meeting. ‘Anora’ is the fifth film in which Baker features characters related to prostitution or the sex business. “A subject about which there is a social stigma,” he notes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV7jnVhBD2E “It’s interesting to talk about people who work in a kind of marginal, almost underground economy. It’s a good drama,” Baker comments. The filmmaker notes that many of his characters pursue the American “dream,” despite having a stigma because of their social status. ”
I like to explore an underdog struggling against the odds. This applies to America, where we have this American dream that everyone is trying to chase. regardless of their social status. But there are people who are outside the system who are not allowed to pursue the American dream because their lifestyle has stigma attached to it. And that’s what I think I’ve been continually exploring,” he says. In addition to reflecting prostitution and the world of drugs, ‘Anora’ portrays what the Russian-American community in the Brighton Beach (New York) area is like. “I wanted to film that community in the Coney Island area, which as a New Yorker I love, and it came up that I had in my head the story of a young wife who marries the wrong man,” he acknowledged. The cast includes Russian actors such as Yuri Aleksandrovich, Mark Eidelstein and Armenian-American Karren Karagulian.
