Tangerine

Covering a day in the lives of two trans sex workers, Tangerine is an offbeat surprise that's hilarious, heartwarming & heartbreaking, is bursting with energy & style from start to finish, and offers an unusual glimpse into Los Angeles' sex-trade subculture. As unconventional in content as it is in the way it's shot, this is one comedy that defies everything in its path.

The story of Tangerine unfolds on Christmas Eve and follows two trans sex workers who are also best friends. One of them is Alexandra who's inviting friends all over the town to attend the gig she has secured for the night. The other is Sin-Dee Rella who just tears through the town to find her pimp boyfriend after learning that he cheated on her while she was locked up.

Written & directed by Sean S. Baker, Tangerine is crafted with rigour & passion and shatters many filmmaking norms over the course of its runtime. Filmed entirely on iPhone with more enhancements coming from easily available apps, the film gleams with colour filters & warm palette that gives it a distinctive look. And although the first act requires some getting used to, it only gets funnier as the plot progresses.

While the primary focus is on Sin-Dee & Alexandra, the subplots related to other characters connected to these two are also interesting in their own ways. The film also breaks tradition in the casting department by employing two transgender actresses in the given roles & both of them deliver fantastic performances, with Mya Taylor playing her character in a balanced manner while Kitana Kiki Rodrigues going full crazy as Sin-Dee.

On an overall scale, Tangerine is an inventive, distinctive & hysterical piece of indie cinema that allows its audience to settle down in the first act after which it instantly changes gears, gets more wild & vibrant with every passing minute, goes absolutely bonkers in its final act when all its different threads combine together to form a single whole, and finally concludes with a touching ode to friendship. In a sentence, Tangerine works because its heart is at the right place. Definitely worth a shot.

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.

The first thing everyone always says about Tangerine is that it's shot on iPhones. That is true. IPhone 5's, three of them, with an added lens and a stabilising gimble. It's not a gimmick though. Take that fact away and this is still an impressive film. Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is a transgendered prostitute, who's just found out that her pimp boyfriend Chester (James Ransome) is cheating on her. Taking to the sunkissed and dirty streets of LA, she's on a mission with friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) to sort Chester and Dinah (Mickey O'Hagan) the girl he's cheating with out. Although cut conventionally, a lot of it feels very real, honest, unscripted. The choice of kit will certainly help with this, but it doesn't feel cheap. Apparently it's Christmas Eve and Alexandra is planning an event. A event Sin-Dee needs to be at, but her somewhat aggressive sleuthing is getting in the way. Christmas in LA looks weird to me, not a hint of snow and certainly not the way this film is graded. Everything is bathed in burnt orange... hence the name. I want to like it more than I do, maybe because I admire what it's trying to do and how it's doing it, but it's not an easy watch. It plods a little in places, despite the larger than life characters and a pulsating score and Sin-Dee isn't the easiest character to like. That said, although I wouldn't categorise this as enjoyable, it's still an interesting film. Funny, bleak and chaotic.

This was just a complete free for all! I didn't know about this film until watching The Florida Project. This was moving in just the same way. I liked these people and I disliked these people. I was fully invested. Point being, I cared about them as PEOPLE. I saw Starlet as well a while ago, but it didn't grab me like this and Florida. More, please.

Right up front let me tell you this is not an easy film to watch. It is vulgar, raw, painful and shocking at times. It is, however, going to stand for some time as this generation's example of how to write a story, tell a story, and create characters that are not only believable, but memorable. Tangerine, the gift we get on Christmas in America, is a story about people who live in constant chaos, in an unsafe and harsh America where not everyone get's sterling silver from the man in the North pole. It is a visually stunning achievement and reminds us that those of us who make art are first and foremost storytellers. Bravo to those who were brave enough to produce, act in and make this story come to our movie screens. Watch out Hollywood, the next generation of artists making movies has arrived.