Earlier this month, Anora nabbed five of the most coveted of the 97th Academy Awards – Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Director and, of course, the pinnacle – Best Picture – and promptly put the name Sean Baker on everyone’s lips. And while the film has proved it can stand alone in its gritty portrayal of some of the rawest, unvarnished human emotions, it’s worth taking a look at the writer/ director’s career overall to more fully appreciate the movie’s subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) nuances.
For instance, at what point did the filmmaker adopt his now-signature opening credits, scrawled across the screen in Aguafina Script font while an upbeat soundtrack serves to subvert his audience’s expectations about what they’re in for? There’s a salty reality his viewers are about to be launched into, but for a brief moment, they’re blissfully unaware, too busy allowing NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye in Red Rocket, Kool & The Gang’s Celebration in The Florida Project, or Take That’s Greatest Day in Anora lull them into a false upbeat sense of contentment.
On the ickier side, Arnick throwing up in Toros’ car in Anora had to happen. Baker has a habit of incorporating a vomit scene into many of his productions. And speaking of Toros, actor Karren Karagulian has starred in every one of Baker’s films (in addition to a producing role for 2015’s Tangerine). Baker’s frequent creative colleague Shih-Ching Tsou, who co-directed Take Out and produced several other of his films, acts as a perfume wholesaler in The Florida Project, and runs donut shops in both Tangerine and Red Rocket.
Sean Baker
And then there’s Baker’s penchant for casting relatively unknown actors in his lead roles, and bringing out riveting and authentic performances from them. Mikey Madison may have the golden statue to show for it and Willem Dafoe took home a number of awards for The Florida Project, but lesser-known actors like Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Tangerine), Simon Rex (Red Rocket), and Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), among many others, have given their all to the filmmaker’s richly-layered characters and cinematic vision over the years.
There are many more threads that run through Baker’s filmography, tying them all together into a cohesive, and paradoxically humorous world, where the most marginalized and forgotten among us are given dignity and a voice. Not because they can woo spoiled heirs, accompany an elderly woman on her dream vacation or take home a record number of adult film star awards, but because they are doing what they can to survive with the bum hand life has dealt them… and hopefully finding a bit of love, luck, and friendship along the way to make life worth living. All this is done with brutal honesty and without complaint or judgement.
Baker’s first produced credit was his guerrilla film of 2000 called Four Letter Words which explored young male attitudes to life in explicit detail. A quarter century later, Sean Baker has five prized statues sitting on his mantlepiece as a testament to his work.
In honor of Sean Baker’s stellar night at the Oscars, let’s look at six of his key films over the past twenty years:
Take Out (2004)
Written and directed by Baker and Tsou, Take Out follows illegal Chinese immigrant Ming Ding (played by Charles Jang) over the course of one day in New York City as he struggles to come up with the money he owes to an unforgiving loan shark. Working as a delivery person for a local Chinese restaurant, Ming Ding has to stretch one shift’s worth of tips into three hundred dollars or else his substantial debt will double.
Baker’s characteristic focus on realism started early. The audience watches Ming Ding go from apartment to apartment, plastic bags in hand, dodging New York cabs on his bike as he tries to cram in as many deliveries as possible. We almost literally count the pennies with him and watch as the restaurant owners chop meat and vegetables, fry rice, and place orders for large quantities of MSG. Setting the stage for his future work, the story ultimately boils down to human connection and finding unexpected support in the face of crippling loneliness and isolation.
Take Out
Starlet (2012)
Co-written with another frequent collaborator, Chris Bergoch, Starlet is a story about an unconventional friendship that blossoms between twenty-something Jane (Dree Hemingway) and an elderly woman, Sadie (Besedka Johnson). Like many of Baker’s protagonists, Jane is living week to week, relying on roommates (played by Stella Maeve and James Ransone) and casting jobs in the porn industry to get by.
In an effort to brighten her tiny living space, she stops by the surly older woman’s yard sale and picks up a thermos to double as a vase, but is shocked to find wads of cash stowed in the container when she gets it home. Faced with the ethical dilemma of whether or not to give the money back, the well-meaning Jane soon finds herself compensating for her newfound riches by offering the lonely Sadie company and conversation she hasn’t enjoyed in many years.
The title refers to Jane’s little chihuahua, an almost constant presence in the film and an important character in its own right, setting into motion key events in the story. As Baker does in all of his films, he uses humor and seeming lightness to evoke deeper questions related to humanity – can genuine connection originate with a lie?
Starlet
Tangerine (2015)
Written by Baker and Bergoch and executive produced by the Duplass Brothers, Tangerine’s most unique feature is that it was shot entirely on three iPhones. It is an important film in Baker’s catalogue and marks something of a shift towards, what would soon become, his signature style (Aguafina Script opening credits included). The look and feel is exquisite yet gritty, while the story drives home the tough reality of life as a sex worker on the streets of Los Angeles.
Once again, Baker utilizes sharp, dark humor to lighten the heaviness of his subject matter as lead character Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), a transgender sex worker fresh out of a twenty eight day stint in jail, tries to track down her cheating boyfriend (and pimp) on Christmas Eve. As one of the characters pointedly remarks, “Los Angeles is a beautifully wrapped lie”, which seems to sum up everything Baker is attempting to convey on behalf of his characters.
Tangerine
The Florida Project (2017)
Arguably one of Baker’s most heartwarming and emotional films, The Florida Project centers around Moonee (Brooklynn Prince), a mischievous, but adorable six-year-old girl growing up with her mother at a motel in Orlando. Again co-written with Chris Bergoch, the film offers a stark portrayal of the lives of hard-up single parents and their children. While the former struggles to find creative ways to pay the rent, the latter find happiness in daily activities, whether that’s hitting up strangers at the local ice cream shack for spare change, exploring abandoned houses or snagging free pancakes at the nearby diner.
Moonee and her fierce, but loving mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) rely on the kindness of the motel’s manager, Bobby (Willem Dafoe), who looks out for them, but also tries to keep Halley accountable. All the while, the Cinderella Castle of Disneyworld ironically looms just a few steps down the road, bringing tourists from all parts of the world to spend exorbitant amounts of money in blunt contrast. It is a thought-provoking consideration of the so-called Happiest Place on Earth and, in Baker fashion, ends on a thoroughly ambiguous note prodding the audience to imagine where it all ends up for its characters.
The Florida Project
Red Rocket (2021)
Perhaps the most controversial film on this list, Red Rocket can leave you feeling somewhat unsettled, which is likely exactly what Baker intended. Protagonist and porn star Mikey Saber (played by Simon Rex, himself a former adult film star turned MTV VJ turned actor and rapper) is fun and charismatic and charming.
A self-proclaimed one-time big shot in LA, he shows up on the doorstep of his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and mother-in-law (Brenda Deiss) in Texas City looking for a place to crash until he can get back on his feet. No one in his old neighborhood is particularly glad to have him back, but he eventually finds ways to convince them his presence is a good thing. Essentially acting like a big child, riding his bike around town and selling weed to earn his keep at Lexi’s, it all turns a little creepy when the teenager working behind the counter at the local donut shop, Strawberry (Suzanna Son), catches his eye. Soon the audience begins to see just how much Mikey is out for himself.
Once again, Baker shows how setting is of the utmost significance in his work since all of this takes place during the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Mikey rides past MAGA signs on his rounds about town and clips of Donald Trump’s campaign can be heard on the television when he gets home at night. It’s a fascinating lens through which to view his lead character and his pursuit of the fabled American dream.
Red Rocket
Anora (2024)
And then there is Anora. The character of Anora, or Ani as she insists on being called, was written by Baker specifically for Mikey Madison. An escort at a club in Brooklyn, Ani meets a young Russian heir, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), and is offered a large sum of money to be his “girlfriend” for the week. Although things don’t quite pan out the way they do for Richard Gere and Julia Roberts when they tried this out in 1990’s Pretty Woman, Ani and Vanya do end up tying the knot in Vegas and the former thinks she’s found her happily ever after. That is until Vanya’s parents find out and, not pleased with the new addition to the family, send a group of goons to undo the pair’s impulsive act. Vanya’s mother barks to Ani that she will never be part of their family.
The situations Baker’s protagonists find themselves in are not exactly the most relatable, and the multiple Oscar-winning Anora is no exception. So why is it his films so often are? At the end of the day, they’re not just entertainment; they evoke something deeper. While we may not typically find a life-altering friendship at the bottom of a canister crammed with cash or spend our holidays tracking down a cheating pimp who devastated us with his betrayal, the potent realism of Baker’s storytelling actually feels real and relatable to audiences.
As exaggerated as the characters are, and as absurd as the circumstances they’re in may be, it’s the need for human connection that we can all relate to. And perhaps the open endings that allow us to write our own stories and fantasize about what might happen next draws us back for more Sean Baker films.
[More: Sean Baker’s “Anora” Hinges On One Pivotal Action Sequence]
