Tangerine (A-) Movie Review
Tangerine stars Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Sin-Dee and Mya Taylor as Alexandra, two transgender sex workers in the Hollywood area. Sin-Dee has just gotten out of jail and finds out that her boyfriend/pimp has been cheating on her. She recruits Alexandra for help and the two journey through Hollywood on Christmas Eve to find Chester, her boyfriend/pimp, and the white cisgender girl he's been cheating with, whose name no one seems to remember.
Ah, the breakout film of Sundance that was shot on an iPhone. And it turns out, it's a pretty great looking film, regardless of whether it was shot on an iPhone. The sun-drenched landscape of the Los Angeles area is perfectly captured here. And truthfully, after just a couple minutes, you forget that it's even been shot on an iPhone. I think the fact that it was shot on an iPhone does more to fuel an independent filmmaking spirit than to just do something different. Director Sean Baker is telling you that you can go out, write an original and bold script, and shoot it with very limited resources and have it come out pretty darn good. And that's pretty cool.
Tangerine takes this iPhone concept and utilizes it to make one of the boldest films of the past couple of years. It seems very realistic in its portrayal of transgedner prostitutes (though I wouldn't know much about the subject) and it's always pushing boundaries. It's very refreshing to see a film that genuinely doesn't care about cinematic norms.
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor are both extremely charismatic. They deliver two rich, personal, and fearless performances that are among some of the finest of the year. These actresses need more work because they are ridiculously talented.
Tangerine is, aside from being dramatically powerful, often hilarious. With one of the zaniest characters this year (Sin-Dee), many comedic misadventures erupt from her simply being there. Don't be surprised if you're frequently uncomfortable but also don't be surprised if you are laughing through it.
There's also a few genuinely moving scenes here. These scenes are the quiet ones, in which Sin-Dee and Alexandra have been cursing and wreaking havoc and all of a sudden, things quiet down and they're each a little more vulnerable. Alexandra's nightclub singing scene is touching. I won't say much more about it than that but in it, you see that these are real people with hopes and aspirations that are beat down because of their harsh environment. The parting shot is also particularly poignant.
Sean Baker's vision is clear and obvious. The film refuses to compromise and be anything that it's not. It's also beautiful how the film refuses to judge its main characters. It actually regards them pretty affectionately. They are not judged by how they identify via gender or their choice of work. Tangerine doesn't really take a stance as being pro or anti sex work. It's just a realistic representation of two people working through their lives.
A very minor flaw I had with the film is its handling of the taxi driver, Razmik's, subplot. Razmik is a married man with a kid and enjoys the occasional company of workers such as Sin-Dee or Alexandra. I didn't always find this subplot super compelling and it consumed a little too much of the screen time in my opinion.
But even when the pace is occasionally slowed by Razmik's subplot, the film remains frenetic. There's a really fun energy pervading the entire film that you don't often find in big budget films. It's the energy of people who don't feel restricted by big studio limitations. It's the energy of artistic freedom.
As a group of film lovers, it's important that we support independent filmmaking like this, let alone great filmmaking like this. Tangerine is intense, uncomfortable, hilarious, and fearless. Seek it out for a unique film experience.
FINAL GRADE: A-
MPAA RATING: R for strong and disturbing sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, and drug use
Ah, the breakout film of Sundance that was shot on an iPhone. And it turns out, it's a pretty great looking film, regardless of whether it was shot on an iPhone. The sun-drenched landscape of the Los Angeles area is perfectly captured here. And truthfully, after just a couple minutes, you forget that it's even been shot on an iPhone. I think the fact that it was shot on an iPhone does more to fuel an independent filmmaking spirit than to just do something different. Director Sean Baker is telling you that you can go out, write an original and bold script, and shoot it with very limited resources and have it come out pretty darn good. And that's pretty cool.
Tangerine takes this iPhone concept and utilizes it to make one of the boldest films of the past couple of years. It seems very realistic in its portrayal of transgedner prostitutes (though I wouldn't know much about the subject) and it's always pushing boundaries. It's very refreshing to see a film that genuinely doesn't care about cinematic norms.
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor are both extremely charismatic. They deliver two rich, personal, and fearless performances that are among some of the finest of the year. These actresses need more work because they are ridiculously talented.
Tangerine is, aside from being dramatically powerful, often hilarious. With one of the zaniest characters this year (Sin-Dee), many comedic misadventures erupt from her simply being there. Don't be surprised if you're frequently uncomfortable but also don't be surprised if you are laughing through it.
There's also a few genuinely moving scenes here. These scenes are the quiet ones, in which Sin-Dee and Alexandra have been cursing and wreaking havoc and all of a sudden, things quiet down and they're each a little more vulnerable. Alexandra's nightclub singing scene is touching. I won't say much more about it than that but in it, you see that these are real people with hopes and aspirations that are beat down because of their harsh environment. The parting shot is also particularly poignant.
Sean Baker's vision is clear and obvious. The film refuses to compromise and be anything that it's not. It's also beautiful how the film refuses to judge its main characters. It actually regards them pretty affectionately. They are not judged by how they identify via gender or their choice of work. Tangerine doesn't really take a stance as being pro or anti sex work. It's just a realistic representation of two people working through their lives.
A very minor flaw I had with the film is its handling of the taxi driver, Razmik's, subplot. Razmik is a married man with a kid and enjoys the occasional company of workers such as Sin-Dee or Alexandra. I didn't always find this subplot super compelling and it consumed a little too much of the screen time in my opinion.
But even when the pace is occasionally slowed by Razmik's subplot, the film remains frenetic. There's a really fun energy pervading the entire film that you don't often find in big budget films. It's the energy of people who don't feel restricted by big studio limitations. It's the energy of artistic freedom.
As a group of film lovers, it's important that we support independent filmmaking like this, let alone great filmmaking like this. Tangerine is intense, uncomfortable, hilarious, and fearless. Seek it out for a unique film experience.
FINAL GRADE: A-
MPAA RATING: R for strong and disturbing sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, and drug use