Tangerine (Sean Baker, 2015):USA

Reviewed by Ashley Gatimu. Viewed at Antioch University for SBIFF, 2016.

Tangerine is a drama/comedy that takes you on an adventure through the infamous red light district in downtown Los Angeles. This movie was written and directed by the talented Sean Baker who has received Spirit Award nominations and was also named one of “The Top Ten Directors to Watch” on Variety.com. This movie was shot entirely on an iPhone using only a couple of streets in Santa Monica. But that’s only the beginning of cool features when it comes to this film. Another interesting note about this movie is that the two main actors are actually from the area you see on film to make it more truthful. Because the whole movie was shot entirely within a couple blocks and in sunny LA, there’s an orange hue seen throughout the scenes, giving it it’s name, Tangerine. Sin-Dee (Kitana Rodriguez) plays the overly dramatic, jealous girlfriend who will do anything to get pay back. Her sidekick, Alexandra (Mya Taylor) is more laid back, and an entertainer who is hiding a big secret herself. Did I mention their sex workers? These two actresses together make the perfect duo and you absolutely can’t resist watching them make the scene light up. I would compare these two to the the main characters in the movie White Chicks.

The film starts out on Christmas Eve with two black transgender sex workers, Sin-Dee and Alexandra, who are sitting in a Donut Time. Sin-Dee is fresh out of jail and in a great mood until she finds out one little problem- her boyfriend has been cheating on her for the last month. This starts Sin-Dee’s crazy quest to go out and find the girl who did her wrong. Alexandra insists of not being apart of the drama so in the meanwhile she tries to gather people up to go to her performance later that night. Her good friend Razimik who is an Armenian cab driver with a family of his own and has a lot of secrets himeself. The film shows his struggles as well when his personal life starts to clash with his family. Tangerine is a great movie filled with a funny, dramatic, emotional, and an original screenplay.

I believe that this film is truly one of a kind right now. There really aren’t that many moviess out there with real transgender, (black at that) characters as a main lead. Most films don’t even show the side of Los Angeles that was shown, which again, is very real. It’s also rare you see an Armenian family represented in American film. Because the date is set on Christmas, you get to see the way their cultures clash during this holiday and it makes it very relatable. I love how Tangerine breaks all kinds of barriers for American film- including gender, class, and race. I think Sean did a great job of representing an underestimated group of people and with these kinds of films growing, I’m sure we’ll see more of a diverse group of people enter the movie industry.