Tangerine
Director: Sean Baker
Stars: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian
Duration: 88 mins
Class: Unrated
Eden Cinemas Release

There was a little bit of buzz surrounding the film Tangerine, mainly because it was all shot using iPhones. It all sounded rather gimmicky, I thought, an impression that begins to change with the film’s opening scene – and it’s not long before the way the action was captured is forgotten, as the story and its colourful, unforgettable protagonists grab your attention and effortlessly hang on to it until the closing credits.

The film opens with Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) reuniting over a doughnut after the former is released from a short stint in jail. Alexandra is catching Sin-Dee up with news from their neighbourhood – and inadvertently lets slip that Sin-Dee’s boyfriend Chester (James Ransone) has cheated on her. Sin-Dee’s reaction is rather volatile and she vows to hunt down the offending pair and wreak revenge.

This opening scene effectively sets the pace for what is to come, with its larger-than-life protagonists with their big hair, sexy togs, rapid-fire and often hilarious dialogue and oodles of attitude.

That the two protagonists are also transgender sex workers is almost incidental – these are two women on a mission. Well, one of them is, for all Alexandra wants to do is get to her singing gig that evening on time, and traipsing round the streets of LA trying to hunt down Sin-Dee’s wayward boyfriend/pimp was not on her agenda for the day.

Deserves every ounce of praise it has received to date

Despite the vibrant and often smutty comedic tone, Tangerine is not merely played for laughs, however. At its core it is a story of friendship, family and fidelity and all their complexities; exploring its themes in depth and with much compassion for its protagonists. They may be loud, happy-go-lucky transgender women operating in an industry which is frowned upon by many; yet, writer and director Sean Baker does not trumpet the diversity angle or judge the women. He is not at all interested in the stereotype that sits on the surface, but on the human beings underneath and the common denominators that anyone can relate to. When he scratches the very colourful surface of the characters, he finds people who have had it tough and who have witnessed loneliness, pain and heartbreak in varying degrees, and like most of us, try to find ways to alleviate that pain and carry on.

Baker has wrought from his two protagonists superb performances and it is impossible to believe that neither had much acting experience to speak of until now. Both Rodriguez and Taylor give fluid, nuanced, performances, each pushing the funny in their roles (Rodriguez in particular proving a natural when it comes to delivering killer comic lines); while taking time to find the poignant – there is something almost heart-breaking in the scenes depicting Taylor singing to an audience of little more than two; with the hope that the world she dreams of may be obtainable lighting up her face.

Kudos also to Karren Karagulian as an Armenian cab driver, ostensibly a happily-married husband and father with a secret that threatens his family life when it is exposed, culminating in a fast and furious showdown back at that doughnut place where it all started.

Despite being shot a few blocks away from where the Golden Globes were being handed out (as explained by the director), Tangerine features no glamorous Hollywood locations – it was shot in guerrilla style in a grimmer and grimier area of Los Angeles, where no Hollywood type would probably dare to be seen. This enhances the authenticity of the piece; those iPhones adding a bright and an almost ethereal tinge to the unforgiving Los Angeles sun that beats relentlessly down on the streets.

If you’re looking for a Christmas film with a delightful difference, check this out. Don’t be fooled by the sun-saturated setting – the action actually unfolds during Christmas Eve and offers a raw, raucous, and real piece of filmmaking that deserves every ounce of praise it has received to date.