Ana the Cleaner

Ana, a Ukrainian immigrant and true crime junkie, spends her days cleaning the homes of Chicago’s elite, while listening to her favorite podcasts about unsolved killings. When one of her clients’ wives suddenly disappears, Ana becomes convinced she’s uncovered the perfect murder. As she embarks on an amateur investigation, furtively piecing together clues with every visit, she becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering the truth, even if it might be all in her head.

In his engaging feature debut, commercial director Guy Bauer crafts an accomplished, plot-twisting Chicago-set thriller filled with equal doses of suspense and bemusement. Pointing to a host of current political issues from the war in Ukraine to ICE’s immigration crackdown, Ana the Cleaner is both an insightful riff on a culture obsessed with true crime and a perfect combination of the elements that make the genre a true guilty pleasure.