Tangerine

I saw this Premiere at Sundance 2015. This is what a Sundance film should be. You start watching at a distance. The subject matter of prostitutes, pimps, drugs, sex, homosexuality and gender roles is foreign to most and even repulsive to some. But that's the beauty. It draws you in...you start to care about the characters, you start to laugh with them. You then admire their pluck. You feel their frustration, sadness and even shame. Then you identify with it. Then, eventually, you admire it. Finally, what you see are human beings with the same, or even better, values that you have. The music is cutting edge street sound that propels you along the LA sidewalks and, combined with the colors of the film (i.e. tangerine), it pulls you into the brash and jolting life on some of the worse streets of LA. The power of the film is that, in powerful ways, that street community seems a better home than you have in safe suburbia. This is what indie film should be.....it takes a different subject matter, perhaps something disturbing, draws you in and changes the way you view the world. Forever. Not just during the course of a film festival.

Even better, this film was shot entirely on three iPhone 5s. At the Premiere, the audience audibly gasped when this fact rolled on screen during the credits. Another thing an indie film should do...change the way you look at how films can be made. (I'm actually going to try to make a film this summer...seriously).

This film should have won the Sundance NEXT award....and probably would have if it was not by audience vote. This is not mainstream..it is an independent film. This film will change your life.

P.S. Both female leads were powerful and legitimate, in every sense of that word. But Kiki Kitana Rodriguez has screen presence and karma enough to fill Dodger Stadium one hundred times over. I could watch her for yours, and hope we all have a chance to do so again.

Glad to see the theater packed for this one. The way it was shot feels like a documentary, but the raw subject matter and unpolished acting were in-your-face in the best ways. There's no time to judge these fast-moving, trans-gendered prostitutes, and why would you? Everything's f***ed up. Family people are not what they seem, everyone's motivations are unique, people are desperate for acceptance, affection and enough money to make it to the next day. They play the hands they're dealt, like all of us, spinning around and around, trying to get answers and making stupid mistakes along the way. In the end, it's still a friendship movie, not a package with a shiny, redeeming bow. Sick of safe, sanitized, statistical NPR? Here's your movie.

A fabulous character study, gritty slice of life, walk on the wild side comedy . . . any variety of possible descriptions come to mind.

But no matter how one tries to frame this uniquely crafted work, despite its very low production budget (this entire movie was filmed with iPhones?), it's still surprisingly entertaining.

I could try to encapsulate the drama (and yes, drama, as in on the street, way over the edge drama) between the two main characters, and the meandering ill fated adventures that sprout up along the way, but actually, better that you simply watch and experience for yourself.

No spoilers, not even a hint . . . but what I will suggest here, the time spent to watch this will not be wasted.

Kudos to a very clever bit of street drama compressed into a simple but engaging journey into and through a collection of lives that are all too real out in certain sections of town, which in this case happens to be West Hollywood.

My friend put me on to this, with no mention at all of what it was about... so totally unexpected. What I really liked about Tangerine is that it didn't pull its punches. None of the main characters are 100% hero or villain... everyone is sad/funny/cruel/kind at some point. I can't say I'd want to hang out with ANYONE in this movie... but they're all presented as complex characters, people, which is great.

I can see why John Waters liked it, it does remind me a bit of his earlier films with their various crazed characters in crazed worlds... though Tangerine feels much more real and gritty than any of those Waters films, which were heavy with fantasy.

Anyway, it's excellent... I hope it garners a huge following and we start getting more films like this and less superhero trash.

Really liked 2012's 'Starlet', so 2015's 'Tangerine' was definitely going to be seen. Just in case anybody is wondering what my incentive was for seeing the films, it's for getting acquainted with director Sean Baker's work before seeing his recently released film 'The Florida Project'.

Found myself liking 'Tangerine' even more. A few parts are still a little forced and written and resolved somewhat too neatly, but there is not much to criticise a film that is a little texturally richer and more intimate in detail than to 'Starlet'. Like with 'Starlet', the faults are fairly minor and are eclipsed by everything else that is done right. 'Tangerine' is most interesting for its unique visual style and using real life transgenders for actors, but despite how this sounds this is not a gimmick film and has much more to it than that.

Visually, it won't appeal to all, some may find it amateurish. With me though, the shot entirely on three iPhones look was surprisingly naturalistic and added a high-voltage intensity and realism to a story that is often confrontational in manner. The music has some nice atmosphere too.

Like with 'Starlet', 'Tangerine' really stands out in the writing, with a great balance of funny comedy, charming warmth, understated sweetness and touching drama. The story likewise, it really made me feel warm inside, it made me laugh, it surprised me, it charmed me and it moved me. There is some explicitness and some vulgarity, but it felt raw and any shock drama just added another layer to the drama. The Christmas fairy-tale feel that is at times adopted is not sugary, if anything it's got a lot of attitude which was surprising in a good way.

Once again, Baker's direction is adroit and he paces everything beautifully. Would go as far to say that his direction is even better and more comfortable here than it is in 'Starlet', it's richer, more intimate and more detailed.

'Tangerine's' acting is not quite as good as 'Starlet's', but it is still surprisingly very good. Especially from Mya Taylor who fully succeeds in making her character come over as a real-life person with strengths and flaws rather than a caricature or stereotype.

Altogether, a very good film, very different to 'Starlet' but has many of what made that film as impressive as it was. 8/10 Bethany Cox