Tangerine is a comedy-drama film directed by Sean Baker that follows two transgender sex workers—Sin-Dee Rella and Alexandra—who have to navigate through everyday life around the Los Angeles area with Sin-Dee freshly out of prison.
Although some viewers of Tangerine have criticized the film for poor cinematography or enforcing gender stereotypes/roles, I found the film to be well captured—given the limited resources this film was shot with—and very realistic to what some people’s reality can be.
When I heard that this film was all captured on three iPhone 5s smartphones, I was expecting a low quality and poorly shot film, but I was completely wrong. Throughout the film Sean Baker was able to capture beautiful and unconventional shots that are similar to those that are captured by cameras that cost thousands of dollars.
One specific scene I enjoyed, for cinematic purposes was the scene where Sin-Dee sat at the bus stop contemplating what to do after finding out Chester—her boyfriend and pimp—has been cheating on her. One aspect that adds to the intensity of this scene is the score they chose to play in the background. The music goes from a contemplative classical tune to an upbeat electronic song. I enjoyed this because my auditory and visual senses flashed as I was able to see the emotion in Sin-Dee’s eyes and hear the intense changeup in music.
As Sin-Dee takes pull after pull from the cigarette in her hand we can see just how much is going on in her head solely through her rapid head turns and concentrated eyes. This is where I was able to see one of the fantastic shots of Tangerine as Sean Baker heavily uses the imagery of eyes in this scene which I took as a symbol of our self critical selves. The eyes—both on the advertisement on the bus and on Sin-Dee—were very obvious which sent the message to me that during troubling times in our lives, we can easily be our own enemies.
Another sequence in the film that I enjoyed were the scenes of the taxi passengers that Razmik would drive around. These scenes happened throughout the film and always added a little bit of a laugh. Although these scenes are minuscule to the overall plot, I think they were essential in setting up the mood of the film.
The scenes brought another strong sense of reality—which is the main reason I enjoyed this film so much. From the elderly man who rambled, the elderly woman who lost her dog, the selfie-taking woman, and the two drunk men, these small clips are true depictions of what reality is for someone who drives a taxi. In a bigger context, I liked how these scenes gave us juxtapositions of what Sin-Dee and Alexandra’s reality is. Moreover, the passengers in the taxi look like they are cisgendered people that sound like they have lives that are nowhere near the lives of Sin-Dee and Alexandra.
Personally, being around my dad working who works as a taxi driver in San Francisco, I would sometimes sit in the passenger seat while we picked up passengers. Through this, I was exposed to so many people with various types of lifestyles—rich, poor, black, white, asian, introverted, extroverted. This opened up my eyes to one of the most valuable things I realized in life which is that the world is a melting pot of cultures and people that are a little bit different than I am.
I really enjoyed how the film kept this sequence of scenes because, as I mentioned, I think the main reason for this film was to depict the realities of less wealthy transexuals. As a review from The New York Times puts it, “[Hollywood] may be a state of mind to some but is a real neighborhood to others.” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/movies/review-tangerine-a-madcap-buddy-picture-about-transgender-prostitutes.html This emphasizes the fact that it is easy for someone to be oblivious to one’s reality when they have lived a life of privilege and were not exposed to other ways of life. Which is why I disagree with critics of the film who say that this is depicting trans woman in a negative light. I disagree because I have seen this reality for myself. Coming from a poor neighborhood in San Francisco, I have encountered many different lifestyles and seen how people deal with poverty. At night when I am walking home I see people shooting up heroin, people rolling up blunts, and sex workers discreetly standing on corners. In fact, Sin-Dee and Alexandra reminded me of some of the people in my neighborhood because they have extroverted personalities and are very blunt in what they say. Overall, I love how this movie was real and showed viewers a side of Hollywood/society in general what someone’s life and norm can genuinely be.
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I also saw the film to be well captured. I don’t believe the movie was enforcing stereotypes/roles because this is just real life for women like Sin-Dee and Alexandra in Tangerine. I believe anyone who criticizes Tangerine is just uncomfortable with the thought of poverty, prostitution, or basically sexuality in general. I had no expectations when going into the movie. I literally knew nothing about it. When I started the movie I was literally like, “Wait why is it being filmed like this?”. Moving further into the film, I began to enjoy the realness of it all. I also enjoyed the scene at the bus stop. For me it wasn’t the score they chose to play in the background. It was the my visual senses that were completely emerged in the film. The different shots really made you pay attention to every detail. You also mentioned that you enjoyed the taxi scenes. I do admit they were a bit comedic, but I had hope that the scenes/characters would have connected together in some sort of way. I have also met people like Sin-Dee and Alexandra. This way of life is not abnormal, it’s just what privileged people are uncomfortable with accepting as real and true reality.
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