Sean Baker's Anora is getting a lot of acclaim and attention. I still haven't seen it, but he has been a legend in the independent movie circuit for a long time. Tangerine is the one I've been most interested in.
Tangerine was released from Duplass Brothers productions. I'm a big fan of the work of Jay and Mark Duplass. They are what the Weinsteins should have been. Duplass Brothers make independent movies, for movie lovers. They are humanistic and driven to create great art instead of huge profits. Anything under their banner is worth a look.
A perfect movie for me would be about a working class horror lover who parties a lot and gets into a lot of minor mischief. The story of my life, in other words. Sometimes, however, I want to see something completely alien to my sheltered existence. Tangerine is like watching something about life forms from another galaxy.
Tangerine is about a trans prostitute and her best friend living and working in Hollywood. It's a hard life in the streets. Hard situations bring about hard behavior. There's more shouting and carrying on in Tangerine than any other movie that immediately comes to mind.
They shriek at one another, scream obscenities, argue, bullshit, and berate one another, often in harmless ways. It's a loud, brash life.
The streets are depicted as harsh, brutal, and unforgiving. There are con artists, pimps, pushers, pervs and bad drugs.
But the tender moments are what make Tangerine a great movie. The girls, Sin-Dee and Alexandra, are basically grown up little kids like the rest of us, trying to make it in an oppressive world. They've been forced to have tough exteriors, but the bond they have for each other, and their associates, is powerful.
It's Christmas Eve, but you'd barely know it. Sin-Dee just got out from a stint in lock-up, and she learns her pimp-boyfriend has been carrying on with a woman. She goes on a tirade, beating the streets trying to find him.
Meanwhile Alexandra has a show in a bar that night, and she tries to get everyone to come. She does perform "Toyland", from Babes in Toyland, in a sweet and poignant scene, but almost no one is there to see it, and she has to pay for the privilege of doing so.
There's an married Armenian cab driver with a taste for trans sex workers who plays into the action, but there's very little plot here. It's more of a snapshot of a day in the life. There are a few gut-wrenching scenes, and some cringy moments, but Baker and his cast shine a light of sympathy and compassion on the hard life these people found themselves in.
Tangerine was shot guerilla-style on an iPhone. Baker did an astonishing job with the cinematography, giving the movie a frenetic energy that reminded me a little of Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi. This movie picks you up, drags you through the streets, muddying you up a little, but also brings some joy and laughs.
There's raw talent at work here. This is an important movie for its innovation and the way it humanizes street workers, but it's also a rung in the ladder for Baker. Brace yourself and give it a try. You might have to make a statement that you aren't a police officer first.
Written by Mark Sieber
Tangerine was released from Duplass Brothers productions. I'm a big fan of the work of Jay and Mark Duplass. They are what the Weinsteins should have been. Duplass Brothers make independent movies, for movie lovers. They are humanistic and driven to create great art instead of huge profits. Anything under their banner is worth a look.
A perfect movie for me would be about a working class horror lover who parties a lot and gets into a lot of minor mischief. The story of my life, in other words. Sometimes, however, I want to see something completely alien to my sheltered existence. Tangerine is like watching something about life forms from another galaxy.
Tangerine is about a trans prostitute and her best friend living and working in Hollywood. It's a hard life in the streets. Hard situations bring about hard behavior. There's more shouting and carrying on in Tangerine than any other movie that immediately comes to mind.
They shriek at one another, scream obscenities, argue, bullshit, and berate one another, often in harmless ways. It's a loud, brash life.
The streets are depicted as harsh, brutal, and unforgiving. There are con artists, pimps, pushers, pervs and bad drugs.
But the tender moments are what make Tangerine a great movie. The girls, Sin-Dee and Alexandra, are basically grown up little kids like the rest of us, trying to make it in an oppressive world. They've been forced to have tough exteriors, but the bond they have for each other, and their associates, is powerful.
It's Christmas Eve, but you'd barely know it. Sin-Dee just got out from a stint in lock-up, and she learns her pimp-boyfriend has been carrying on with a woman. She goes on a tirade, beating the streets trying to find him.
Meanwhile Alexandra has a show in a bar that night, and she tries to get everyone to come. She does perform "Toyland", from Babes in Toyland, in a sweet and poignant scene, but almost no one is there to see it, and she has to pay for the privilege of doing so.
There's an married Armenian cab driver with a taste for trans sex workers who plays into the action, but there's very little plot here. It's more of a snapshot of a day in the life. There are a few gut-wrenching scenes, and some cringy moments, but Baker and his cast shine a light of sympathy and compassion on the hard life these people found themselves in.
Tangerine was shot guerilla-style on an iPhone. Baker did an astonishing job with the cinematography, giving the movie a frenetic energy that reminded me a little of Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi. This movie picks you up, drags you through the streets, muddying you up a little, but also brings some joy and laughs.
There's raw talent at work here. This is an important movie for its innovation and the way it humanizes street workers, but it's also a rung in the ladder for Baker. Brace yourself and give it a try. You might have to make a statement that you aren't a police officer first.
Written by Mark Sieber
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