They’re different but fit together very well. The central pair of Rodriguez and Taylor are key to this, as their banter (which is largely improvised or at least written through their input) is fast-paced, sharp and hilariously funny. It’s just their job and is shown as such, even if it can cause problems with the law or unreasonable ‘Johns’. The sex workers’ dealings with their clients, for instance, are shown without damnation or titillation but instead displayed raw, warts and all. He never judges these groups for any behaviour that the middle classes might deem ‘inappropriate’. It has so much energy and vibrancy, despite the tough setting and unflinching depiction of the lives of trans sex workers and immigrants in L.A.īaker has always been great at humanising marginalised members of society. I’ve only seen 3 so far but each one has been excellent and I think Tangerine is my favourite. The more Sean Baker movies I watch, the more I realise his style perfectly taps into the type of films I love. However, when Razmik’s mother-in-law (Alla Tumanian) tries to find out where he’s gone, all hell breaks loose. When he discovers she’ll be at Alexandra’s show later, he sneaks out of his family’s Christmas Eve celebrations to go see her. We later learn he has a fondness for trans women, particularly Sin-Dee. Razmik works in the same area as the girls and we see the variety of clientele he picks up.
#TANGERINE IPHONE FILM DRIVER#
When Alexandra accidentally tells Sin-Dee that her boyfriend Chester (James Ransone) has been cheating on her, Sin-Dee goes on the rampage.Īs the disgruntled woman hunts down the culprit (who we eventually discover is Dinah, played by Mickey O’Hagan), we bounce between Sin-Dee’s story, Alexandra’s attempts to talk her friends and neighbours into going to her show that evening, and the trials and tribulations of Armenian taxi driver Razmik (Karren Karagulian). Transgender sex worker Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) has just got out of prison and meets her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor), also trans and working the streets, on Christmas Eve. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the couple of Baker films I’ve seen so jumped at the chance to review this. Now Second Sight are getting involved, with a lovingly compiled Limited Edition release of Tangerine. I’ll get into more detail on this further in my review but, basically, the iPhone photography helped the film get a lot of attention on the festival circuit and gave a boost to the career of Baker, who was on a gradual upward trajectory, after receiving acclaim for his previous couple of features.īaker’s films are starting to get impressive boutique Blu-ray treatments, with Take Out entering the Criterion Collection recently (I reviewed it here). The budget was very small and one of the money-saving decisions the team made was to shoot on an iPhone, rather than film or high-end digital cameras. The Duplass brothers helped support the film, setting Sean up with a pair of producers. The script was fleshed out a bit further, then Baker went out to try to get backing for the production. This helped the film have a true transgender voice behind it. When Baker saw the pair together he knew he had his leads.īaker and Bergoch wrote a ‘scriptment’ (part script, part treatment), then gave that to the girls to give their own input and eventual approval. She brought Kitana Kiki Rodriguez over to meet them too. She told them her story and those of her friends and neighbours.
They met Mya Taylor around the Donut Time area and she was very enthusiastic about the project, so agreed to help them out. So Baker and his co-screenwriter Chris Bergoch scouted it out and spoke to people there in search of characters and stories. With a group of transgender sex workers operating in the area, it seemed like an interesting place to explore.
He’s often drawn to locations as inspiration for projects and on one of his bike rides around L.A., he came across an intersection that was home to a Donut Time cafe. Starring: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanian, James RansoneĪcclaimed writer-director Sean Baker tends to make films that are vivid slices of life.
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