Sean Baker | American Neorealism

It’s been almost two weeks now since indie filmmaker Sean Baker made history by taking home four Oscars in a single night for one film. That film, Anora, is his latest study of sex work in the survival economy — and his interest in its overlap with the underground economy; the overlap in his films being that, in the fight to afford basic necessities due to the perpetual struggle within the former, people must turn to the unsolicited potential income made possible by the latter. Anora, follows Mikey Madison’s Ani (Anora), a young sex worker who marries the young son of an oligarch and ends up fighting for the survival of this new marriage as the parents aim to get it annulled. And those Academy Awards being: Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. Anora isn’t my favorite work from Sean Baker, nor was it the film I was particularly rooting for when watching the ceremony, but a win for Sean Baker is a win for independent filmmakers. It’s not every day that a film about a sex worker, made for roughly $6 million, is able to garner the attention of so many. As Baker said himself, “Long live independent film!”

Sean Baker has been aptly described as one of ‘America’s Neorealists’—as someone who is heavily influenced by the post-Mussolini film movement ‘Italian Neorealism,’ which echoed the harsh economic realities of post-war Italy. Sean Baker, as someone who works with often low budgets and shoots on locations with relatively unknown actors, echoes the production of these Italian Neorealist classics. Baker, more often than not, chooses to explore the struggles of those within marginalised communities. He has specifically made five films that revolve around sex workers: Starlet, Tangerine, Red Rocket, The Florida Project, and Anora—the most expensive of which is his latest, Anora, at only $6 million. He has always had a unique knack for managing his budgets efficiently; Tangerine (with an estimated budget of $100K) was shot on an iPhone 5s with a few attachments to save on camera costs, while Red Rocket was filmed with a small 10-person crew, all working across multiple roles, in a real refinery town in Texas City. Across all of his films, he has utilised working with relatively unknown actors and casting local talent. Again, in Red Rocket (estimated budget of $1.1 million), Brittany Rodriguez, who plays June, was a worker at one of the refineries in the city whom he cast on a whim; she later went on to have a small part in Anora. Shooting on locations, and working extensively with local talent as actors but also script/story advisors, who help him to understand the world of the marginalised communities he’s representing, is what allows Baker’s films to feel so real. 

Whether or not you agree with some of the criticisms directed towards Sean Baker’s portrayal of these communities (i.e., that his work often glamourises, normalises, and exploits sex workers — hell, in Anora, even I partially agree that some of the film's labour politics are a little wonky), it’s still undeniable that Sean Baker makes a beyond earnest attempt to understand the context in which these people live and, within the echoes of Italian Neorealism, refuses to pass judgement on his characters who are just trying to get by (even the slimy, manipulative shit-bag that is Mikey in Red Rocket). Halley in The Florida Project is often despicable — beating her friend, inviting sex work into her home where her child is — but Baker also shows many moments of Halley’s motherly love and guilt for how she’s raising Moonee. He takes great restraint in letting audiences decide for themselves how to feel about these characters. His aim as the writer and director is simply to thoughtfully represent them and deliver an understanding of these communities. He can only attain that level of understanding through a willingness and eagerness to learn from the people within these communities about how to represent them, which is how portrayals of these marginalised communities end up being seen by people like me, who couldn’t begin to comprehend how they live and instead get a peek through the door. I’d like to note that there is a very clear issue within the film industry where people belonging to these marginalised communities are often blocked from representing themselves. While this issue is being tackled, it’s refreshing to have a director who actually acknowledges the communities his characters belong to, dedicating some of his Oscar speeches and his Palme d’Or-winning speech to the sex worker community.

It’s easy to be cynical, to ask and search for any ulterior motives the film industry and academy may have in honouring Anora’s craft, but when the sex work community is as marginalised and unprotected as it is (there is dialogue in Anora regarding Ani’s employment at the club not coming with a 401k), being recognised on such a stage for a film that, I think, ultimately presents an honest look at the lifestyle, is a huge moment — especially under America’s current government.

Interestingly, audiences know what’s coming for the characters in Baker’s movies: attacks of transphobia in Tangerine, the inevitable separation of Halley and Moonee by the DCF in The Florida Project, of course, karma for Mikey in Red Rocket, and anticipating the explosion of the marriage between Ani and Vanya in Anora. Sean Baker makes us watch, in all of his movies, how underground workers trying to get by in the survival economy, and turn to the underground economy are stalked and preyed upon by the cyclical motivations and consequences of that life. Whilst Italian Neorealism was a product of post-war consequences for ordinary people; interestingly, with the adapted and modernised American Neorealism, there is no such faint excuse as war. The hardships endured by the marginalised are a result of ongoing systemic, social and economic inequalities within the American system. To have this highlighted is a win.

Written By Matt Cooke | IG: @dontlookbackmatt