Tangerine (2015)

Borne in the crack pipe dreams of transgender prostitutes is where this movie starts and finishes. And in between it bathes in its feces with the most superlative vanity. It etches obscene graffiti into donut shop tables and it shoots heroin in taxi cabs that reek of vomit. It masturbates in public. It flashes people in the park. It rivals even the reigning champ of filthiness, Pink Flamingos, but it takes the story telling element a step further in delivering an important message about the American Dream perceived by the lowest of the low - the outcasts of society. Even the people you're embarrassed to know want to climb that ladder, and I feel this movie voices those characters in an incredible way. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Sin-Dee wants a loyal husband and a normal life where she can support herself. Mya Taylor wants to become a recognized singer and performs a Christmas show every year. And Karren Karagulian moved to the US from Armenia to support his family and explore his sexuality. Each visionary gives an incredible performance, and each captures that feeling of that one crazy person you might see on the street somewhere. The chaotic energy of this movie is definitely heightened by the frantic camerawork, or rather phonework I guess because it's well known by now that this was filmed entirely on just three iPhone 5s's (which definitely add to the grimy and modern feel. It's probably the best choice Baker could have made to present this film. It feels like some random fight scene put up on Worldstar, filmed by an audience of phones with cracked screens; it's just how things are in this age and it was a brilliant move) which attempts to keep up with the drives of the characters, especially Rodriguez. I will say that a lot of the movie around and the jumping from polar opposites in tone and just scenarios gave me some mild nausea, and it gave an air of being unfocused. The powerhouse starts strong and also finishes strong, but it did lose some steam in the center making the film feel a little longer than it really was. Cutting out some fat and perhaps following some scenes out completely before switching to something new could make this movie I love. When Baker lets scenes like the showdown at Donut Time just breathe and play them to their extent, giving them the perfect Lubitsch Touch, it really is some kind of dark magic.

I saw this film mentioned on Film 2015, and then it was one of the newest entries in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it looked and sounded like a really interesting film, especially how it was made, so I had to watch it. Basically Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is a transgender prostitute who has just been released from a 28-day prison sentence, it is Christmas Eve and she meets with her fellow transgender prostitute and friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) in a donut shop in Hollywood. During their conversation, Alexandra accidentally reveals that Sin-Dee's boyfriend and pimp Chester (James Ransone) has been cheating on her with a woman of cisgender (their gender identity corresponds with their biological sex). Sin-Dee is angry and storms out to search the neighbourhood for Chester and the woman, while Alexandra hands out flyers for her evening musical performance, she also argues with a client who refuses to pay for business, the police break up this argument. Armenian cab driver Razmik (Karren Karagulian) is regularly looking for sex workers, he picks up a prostitute, but ejects her when discovering she is not transgender, he later meets Alexandra who gives him fellatio in a car wash, he then returns home for Christmas dinner with the family. Sin-Dee finds the woman she is looking for, Dinah (Mickey O'Hagan), at a motel brothel, she drags her around town to continue searching for Chester, Dinah continually taunts her along the way, but they stop to watch Alexandra at the venue to perform her music show, no other customers have arrived, it is a mostly empty bar. Razmik leaves his family to watch Alexandra's performance, claiming he is working, but he finds out he is too late, while he searches for Sin-Dee, Razmik's mother-in-law follows him. Sin-Dee, Alexandra and Dinah go to the donut shop, Chester arrives and a confrontation takes place, he insists Dinah means nothing to him, Razmik arrives, followed by his mother-in-law, who calls his wife, Razmik's wife arrives with their infant daughter, and the arguing gets more heated, until the donut shop owner calls the police. Razmik and his family return home, Dinah walks back to the brothel, but there is no room for her, outside the donut shop Chester tells Sin-Dee he also slept with Alexandra, upset Sin-Dee leaves and tries to pick up clients, but she gets urine thrown on her verbal abuse, in the end Sin-Dee and Alexandra go to a laundry service to clean up, and they seem to make amends. Also starring Alla Tumanian as Ashken, Luiza Nersisyan as Yeva, Arsen Grigoryan as Karo, Ian Edwards as Nash, Clu Gulager as The Cherokee and Ana Foxx as Selena. Rodriguez and Taylor are fantastic as the almost mismatched two black transgender hookers striding up and down to resolve their issues, the script is full of murky and intimate subject matter, there are the odd icky and vulgar moments, but it is also very funny, the characters constantly calling each other "girl" and "bitch" for example, and it is surprisingly charming. But what makes this film really stand out, it is obviously a low-budget venture, and it was all shot with three iPhone 5s smartphones, giving the film both depth in its observation and a reality show kind of feel, it should be mentioned also that the title relates to the colour of the Los Angeles sky at sunset, overall it is a most engaging and enjoyable comedy drama. Very good!

Transvestite hooker Sin-Dee Rella gets out of jail. Her friend fellow sex worker Alexandra reveals that her pimp boyfriend Chester has another girl. She goes off looking for Chester and his whore Dinah. Razmik is a cabbie looking for sex with a tranny. He's missing dinner with his conservative Armenian family. When he hears that Sin-Dee is back, he starts looking for her.This is technically superior when considering its low budget production. Sin-Dee's fierce walks with the pumping music is terrific. Her dragging Dinah around has a tense fun. Razmik getting a girl instead of a tranny is hilarious to me. There is plenty to applaud but I don't find the epic quest to find her boyfriend that compelling. There is a limited amount of tension. It feels like Sin-Dee strutting down the road. It looks more fierce than what's actually happening. There are some good work and I hoped for more compelling writing.

It's a fun and oddly comforting cliché to assume behind every arrogant windbag film critic, there's a frustrated filmmaker dying to make something worthwhile. While I doubt this is the case in most circumstances, it is partially true of yours truly. Godard, Bunuel, Spielberg; who can possibly stack up amidst such brilliant craftsmen? What on earth could I make, that would be worthy; that could enrich the lives of viewers the world?Tangerine would be the film I'd make, if not for the frustrating fact that it's already exists. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez plays the emotionally unhinged Sin-Dee, a transgendered sex worker who has just finished a short stay in prison. She meets up with her best friend and fellow prostitute Alexandra (Taylor) who amid pleasantries and wisecracks reveals Sin-Dee's pimp and boyfriend Chester (Ransone) has been sleeping with another woman. What's worse, the woman in question is cisgendered. We then follow Sin- Dee's stormy odyssey as she tracks down Chester and his new paramore. Meanwhile the more practical Alexandra meets up with her regular Razmik (Karagulian). Dinah (O'Hagan) a third prostitute holes up in a musky motel brothel. And to top everything else, it's Christmas in L.A. and the freaks are out to play.Every actor and actress in the film does wonders as earthy and authentic L.A. denizens. Even minor characters such as the LAPD officers who razz the girls on street corner feel so authentic that I wouldn't be surprised if they were real cops. The heart and soul of the film however are Rodriguez and Taylor retrospectively. In a film brimming with shrieking melodrama and gritty inner-city turmoil their sensitive portrayals and deft emotional instincts elevates Tangerines from what could have been an insincere and grossly insensitive slum travelogue.Much hubbub was made of Tangerine's kitschy film-production on the festival circuit. The movie was shot on three iPhone 5s and edited using a host of DIY techniques to make the film seem cinematic. Even as Tangerine echos the gritty aesthetic of Italian neo-realism, Director Sean Baker admits that his cinematic vision was largely cobbled together because of minuscule budget and shooting time restraints. Yet due to clever guerrilla marketing much traction, attention and interest in the project stems from its embrace of lo- fi filmmaking.If knowing the film was shot on smartphone gets butts in the seats, I applaud the producers for using that as a selling point. Whether the novelty becomes a hindrance a la The Blair Witch Project (1999) or it feels like an organic component to the mis en scene (Chronicle (2012) anyone), is up to you. I'm just happy that Duplass Brothers Productions has added a film to their growing revue that doesn't ventilate about the problems of melancholic white folk.Heart-touchingly harrowing, caustically funny and thoroughly engaging, Tangerine is an infuriatingly good movie. It's the type of film that takes all the frenetic excitement of making a micro-budget guerrilla movie and puts the audience right into the fray. First year film students will watch and feel pressed to work harder to make more, do more and be more as artists. Furthermore, this exciting and brilliant little film shines a harsh light on the lives of complex and redeemable people who are forced to live on the fringes of an increasingly hostile society. With the T part of the LGBT struggle sadly becoming more grueling, Tangerine will only become more relevant in the years to come.