By George & Josh Bate
Recent years have seen domestic thrillers like The Housemaid, Girl on the Train, and Verity intrigue with winding mysteries, jolting twists, claustrophobic settings, and complex female leads. Ana the Cleaner, a new psychological thriller and mystery film that recently made its world premiere at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, exists in the same tradition as these domestic thrillers, while swapping their pulpy, airport fiction tone with prescient commentary about the controversial politics currently surrounding immigration in the U.S.
From director Guy Bauer and writer Katie L. Fetting, Ana the Cleaner follows Ana (Yana Roykhman), an undocumented Ukrainian immigrant living in Chicago with her sister (Ilana Kohanchi) and brother-in-law (Caleb Harbin) Ukrainian Village. Ana works as a house cleaner for wealthy clients while occupying her time listening to true crime podcasts and fending off her sister’s attempts at finding her a boyfriend. After agreeing to clean the home of a renowned neuropsychologist (Mickey O’Sullivan) and his wife (Tara Hazel Walsh), Ana puts all her hours of following true crime to the test when she uncovers evidence of a murder in their home.
Ana the Cleaner bolsters the kind of routine, yet immediately gripping premise that will entice anyone with a proclivity for picking up breezy mystery novels at airport bookstores. The film doesn’t offer anything too groundbreaking for this particular flavor of entertainment, checking almost all of the boxes one would expect, yet its competently constructed set-up and intriguing central question will sufficiently scratch the itch of viewers seeking a twisty mystery that approaches its subject matter with appropriate seriousness, rather than grueling bleakness.
Where Ana the Cleaner most strikingly differs from many of the aforementioned domestic thrillers is in its willingness to stray away from the erotic thrills and campy melodrama that often characterize such stories. The likes of The Housemaid and Verity often breach into ‘so bad it’s good territory,’ with laughs both intentional and unintentional spawning from poor acting and all manner of ludicrous moments. But Bauer’s film has neither, while deftly ensuring that it maintains a sense of levity and warmth to prevent it from suffocating the audience.
In the absence of melodrama and eroticism, Ana the Cleaner couples its protagonist’s investigation into a potential murder with messaging all too disturbingly relevant for immigrants living in the U.S. currently. Ana and her sisters fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of their home country, requiring them to start new lives as undocumented immigrants in Chicago. When Ana discovers evidence of a murder in the home of her employers, her documentation status prevents her from alerting the police due to fear of possible punishment and deportation by ICE, something her brother-in-law is quick to remind her of.
Although the film doesn’t use its character’s immigrant status and the troubling presence of ICE as a militant police force for particularly challenging or thought-provoking commentary, the very fact that it weaves such topics into its narrative so seamlessly render it timely viewing. Having a protagonist who needs to worry about ICE knocking at the door if she reports a possible murder subtly speaks to the disturbingly prominent role the now largest and most well-funded law enforcement agency in U.S. history holds, while also serving as a clever explanation for why Ana takes it upon herself to investigate the murder.
The investigation itself compels for the most part, despite a second act lull. The film take a a bit too long to get to its first of several twists, instead spending an abundance of time depicting Ana as she rifles through drawers and closets in an attempt to discover any evidence that a crime occurred. Despite the monotony of these scenes, however, Bauer manages to keep audience interest high, largely due to the insatiable curiosity that comes from a protagonist discovering a disfigured finger in a kitchen garbage disposal.
Bauer exhibits a solid handling of tension and suspense throughout the film. As Ana’s investigation is limited to only a handful of hours per week in her employer’s house before he comes home, there is a sense of urgency packed into every moment Ana sneaks around, digs through corners of the house, and just about erases surveillance footage before the unsettling Dr. Cassio comes home. None of these frenetic flurries of investigation are particularly nail-biting or intense, although they effectively convey the stakes and ensure the film is more than deserving of its description as a thriller.
The mystery itself, meanwhile, proves compelling, albeit rather predictable. Anyone who has read an Agatha Christie whodunnits or any of the thousands of novels it inspired will likely solve the mystery far sooner than Ana does.
Thankfully, foreseeability of its reveals don’t detract from a tense, gripping showdown of a climax. Like Christie, Bauer and Fetting understand that what the ultimate reveal of a mystery entails is just as important as how compellingly that reveal is delivered to the characters, including the culprit.
VERDICT: 7/10
Making its world premiere at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. Ana the Cleaner bolsters the kind of routine, yet immediately gripping premise that will entice anyone with a proclivity for picking up breezy mystery novels at airport bookstores. While it doesn’t offer anything too groundbreaking for this particular flavor of entertainment, its competently constructed set-up and intriguing central question will sufficiently scratch the itch of viewers seeking a twisty mystery that approaches its subject matter with appropriate seriousness, rather than grueling bleakness. Guy Bauer’s debut feature deftly ensures that it maintains a sense of levity and warmth, while steering clear of the erotic thrills and campy melodrama that often characterize domestic thrillers. Where Ana the Cleaner most strikingly differs is in its willingness to weave prescient commentary about the controversial politics surrounding immigration in the U.S. into its narrative so seamlessly, making it disturbingly timely viewing. Bauer exhibits a solid handling of tension a suspense throughout and, although the mystery itself proves compelling, albeit rather predictable, the film delivers a tense, gripping showdown of a climax that will put a smile on the faces of Agatha Christie fans. To top it all off, as Chicago natives, it’s cool to have such a fun, Chicago-set film premiering at the Chicago International Film Festival.