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Not long ago, shooting a film required bulky cameras, costly equipment, and canister after canister of film. Each year, however, tech companies make remarkable advances�and now most of us own much of the equipment needed to shoot a striking film like director Sean Baker�s iPhone-filmed indie Tangerine.
Tangerine takes to the streets of L.A. on Christmas Eve with Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), a transgender working girl who�s just been released after serving a 28-day prison sentence. When her best friend, Alexandra (Mya Taylor), informs Sin-Dee that her pimp/boyfriend, Chester (James Ransone), cheated on her while she was away, Sin-Dee sets out on a mission to confront both her wayward boyfriend and the mysterious blonde girl who made him stray. Storming through the neighborhood�s restaurants and cheap motels, she�ll stop at nothing to find them.
Apple has produced some pretty impressive advertisements for the iPhone, complete with infectious tunes and A-list celebrities. But none of them have promoted their products nearly as well as Tangerine. You might expect a film shot entirely on a phone to be dull or grainy or shaky. (After all, that�s usually the case for my own phone-captured videos.) But Tangerine is vibrant and bold, with stunning cinematography that surpasses that of films made with a hundred times the budget. And Baker does a remarkable job of capturing the streets of L.A.�its palm trees and sunny skies along with its storefronts, neon signs, and graffiti-covered walls.
The story, meanwhile, is loaded with indie-movie grit. It�s an often harsh and twisted tale about a tough, street-smart woman scorned. Nearly everything about the film is bold and intense�from its driving soundtrack to its outspoken characters to their over-the-top encounters. As you might imagine, it�s also more than a little bit seedy�but, in spite of the characters� desperation and drama, there are plenty of darkly humorous moments, too�particularly when all of the characters collide in one big, boisterous scene in the local donut shop.
Admittedly, the inexperience of the mostly amateur cast sometimes shows, but that doesn�t make the characters any less captivating�or their experiences less eye-opening. And though it has some characters, scenes, and subplots that feel somewhat out of place, all of the parts eventually come together to paint a striking picture of a world that most of us have never visited (and probably never will).
Tangerine is a daring�and sometimes brutal�film. It�s far from simple and anything but mainstream�but its candid storytelling and ground-breaking filmmaking make it worth seeking out.
Ed. Note: Tangerine is now playing in select theaters. For details, visit Magnolia Pictures.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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