It was filmed entirely using three different iPhone 5s, making it look near identical to a home video…a well-made home-video. Don’t let its low-budget fool you, Tangerine utilizes its hand-held approach (popular with horror/thrillers) to the fullest in a new and refreshingly non-horror approach. Tangerine is, in fact, a buddy comedy-drama, telling the story of two transgender prostitutes Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor). Sin-Dee is on a rampaging search for her cheating pimp boyfriend Chester (James Ransone), as well as the woman he cheated with, while Alexandra spends her hours passing out flyers to customers and prostitutes about her Christmas-eve karaoke show (“It’s at 7 o’clock, 7 o’clock, 7 o’clock” she firmly repeats to several prostitutes). While the film focuses mostly on these two, it also contains a connecting side-plot involving a stressed-out taxi-driver Razmik (Karren Karagulian) trying to find the recently paroled Sin-Dee, all while his mother-in-law tries to prove his infidelity to her daughter.
Rodriguez and Taylor are actually transgender, discovered by writers Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch at a Los Angeles LGBT center; both actresses are inexperienced with film, yet their performances say otherwise, delivering hilariously quick witted banter alongside a genuinely touching friendship. The film’s comedy stems largely from the duo’s interactions with the cast and each other; their witty dialogue can be so quick-paced I had trouble catching every joke made—the jokes I did hear however brought a multitude of comical moments. Tangerine combines its simple camerawork with effective editing and exceptional creativity. There’s a scene where Alexandra is paid to have Razmik give her a blowjob under the cover of getting his taxi washed; the scene is filmed using a single long take, following the entire washing process as Razmik goes down on her. I’d previously never found much sexual symbolism involving car washes, yet said scene makes a very convincing argument on how complementary the suggestive imagery can be (particularly during their concurrent climaxes). The long take is occasionally interrupted by brief shots of Sin-Dee violently hair-dragging Chester’s affair throughout the streets, giving a very amusing contrast between violence, love, pleasure and business. My biggest criticism of Tangerine is how abruptly it ends, leaving several subplots on depressing, unsatisfying cliffhangers; fortunately the film compensates such disappointment by concluding its main plot on an incredibly touching note involving two friends who’ve both had a very rough day. I’ve never seen a film like Tangerine before, not in style, not in plot, and definitely not a mix of both—it’s an incredibly original film, full of hilarious dark comedy and sincerely touching moments.
