Tangerine

Dir: Sean Baker

2015

****

Sean Baker is my kind of film maker. I went to film school and had a great time but I tired of the rules of film making, the aspects of the art that I always found pointless. I remember by tutor insisted on visiting everyone on set whenever any of us made a film. You were marked down if he wasn’t invited. The things was though, he would turn up unless you bought him lunch. He explained that the most important rule about making a film was making sure everyone had food. I just wanted to grab a camera and shoot most of the time and I found that many of us lost creative momentum by the technical and traditional aspects of the filming process. Obviously we all need to eat but I would argue that some of the best films were made by guerrilla film makers, people who rocked up with a camera and an idea and started filming. I’m sure Baker provided catering but there is a refreshing feeling of spontaneity about his films, Tangerine being the most vivid of his to date. I was never into the technical side of filming, I had no particular allegiance to film or digital but I suppose I did lean towards tradition. The idea of using iPhones and phone apps repelled me initially. The idea felt cheap and nasty, mention such technology to anyone I went to film school with and they will give you that same face a slug gives you when it comes in contact with salt. However, it looks really good. I’m not sure you could film a period drama with one but for this kind of guerrilla film making its brilliant. It’s almost filmed like an old school skateboard video, the kind me and my mates would make back in the late 80s. Visually, I loved every minute, so thankfully Baker had a great story to match. The film opens with Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex worker, meeting up with her friend Alexandra, another trans sex worker, at a donut shop in Hollywood on Christmas Eve just after Sin-Dee Rella been released following a 28-day prison sentence. The pace of the film is fast and furious, which matches the two girl’s conversation. Alexandra accidentally reveals that Sin-Dee's boyfriend and pimp Chester has been cheating on her with a woman while she was in prison. Sin-Dee then storms out to search the neighborhood for Chester and the woman and the film follows her as she storms down every street in the rough side of Hollywood, ranting and raving as she goes. It’s glorious. Alexandra follows her and hands out flyers for her musical performance that evening as she goes. The two split while Sin-Dee searches for Chester and Alexandra looks for clients. We have an insight into the world of transgender prostitution as we see Alexandra have altercations with clients and police, Mya Taylor (who plays Alexandra) being an ex-prostitute herself. There is a seriousness to the issue but it’s all done with an undercurrent of humour as the characters are just so over the top. The film then introduces Razmik, an Armenian cab driver. We see him pick up a prostitute, a new girl he has never seen before. Given the theme of the film until that point it is easy to make the wrong conclusions, so it was a pleasant surprise somewhat when he ejects her from his cab when he discovers she is not transgender. He meets Alexandra and fellates her in a car wash which seems to be his thing. He then goes home to eat Christmas dinner with his wife, children and wife’s family. Alexandra goes to the bar for her performance having invited everyone we’d encountered in the film, but no one has shown up. Meanwhile, Sin-Dee finds the woman who had been with her boyfriend while she was inside, a girl called Dinah who is working at a brothel in a motel room. She hauls her by her hair onto a bus to find Chester. Dinah taunts her for believing she is Chester's only girlfriend. Sin-Dee realizes she is late for Alexandra's performance and drags Dinah there with her. Alexandra performs to a mostly empty bar - Sin-Dee, Dinah and the barman. Sin-Dee and Dinah then smoke crystal meth in the bar bathroom while Sin-Dee applies Dinah's make-up. Meanwhile Razmik leaves his family to attend Alexandra's performance, saying he has to work, much to the disappointment of his in-laws. He arrives too late and searches for Sin-Dee, who is one of his favorite girls, now that she has been released. Suspicious, his mother-in-law, Ashken, finds another Armenian cab driver, Karo. Karo, who knows about Razmik's interests, is told by their dispatcher that Razmik is not working. Ashken asks Karo to take her to Razmik. Initially hesitant, Karo agrees and searches for Razmik's cab in West Hollywood. Sin-Dee, Alexandra and Dinah go to the donut shop, where Sin-Dee confronts Chester. He insists Dinah means nothing to him and that he and Sin-Dee are engaged. Razmik arrives, followed by his mother-in-law. Ashken at first thinks Ramzik's secret is that he is smoking marijuana, but Chester informs her that he only has sex with prostitutes. She calls Razmik's wife, who arrives with their infant daughter. An argument escalates until the shop owner calls the police. Razmik's wife is upset, but she tells her mother to mind her own business, she clearly has had an idea what he’d been up to and has turned a blind eye. He and his family go back to their apartment and Dinah walks back to the brothel but is told there is no room for her. Outside the donut shop, in a final twist, Chester tells Sin-Dee that he also slept with Alexandra and Alexandra admits its true. Hurt, Sin-Dee leaves and tries to pick up some clients. She gets into trouble with some who throw urine in her face and drive away shouting transphobic slurs. Alexandra catches up with her and takes her to a laundromat to clean her clothes and wig. In a heartwarming show of remorse and friendship, she gives her her own wig to wear while they wait – a huge sign of affection. It’s an old school comedy at heart and a lovely film about friendship. The themes are modern and alternative – as is the filming style - but the structure and idea are actually quite classical. It’s a thoroughly entertaining film and a genuinely funny comedy and, on a personal level, it’s a real inspiration that makes me want to dust off my camera, get out there and make a movie.