Los Angeles on Christmas. African American transgender prostitutes Sin-Dee and Alexandra meet at a donut shop. Upon hearing that her pimp and fiance Chester has been cheating on Sin-Dee with Dinah, Sin-Dee storms off and walks the streets to find said woman. Razmik, an Armenian taxi driver, has a sex encounter with Alexandra in his cab. Sin-Dee finds Dinah at a motel and drags her to Chester, to confront him. Chester admits having sex with Dinah, but only to "check her out" as a prostitute. Alexandra sings at a bar, but there are no customers there. Razmik leaves his family's Christmas dinner to feign he has to go to work, but instead finds Alexandra at the donut shop. Razmik's mother-in-law finds him there and confronts him cheating on his wife. Upon hearing Chester also had sex with Alexandra, Sin-Dee leaves them all. Someone throws urine on Sin-Dee, so Alexandra comforts her at a laundromat and gives Sin-Dee her own wig.
"Tangerine" is another naturalistic social drama by Sean Baker about the people on the margins and the lower class, in this case two transgender prostitutes (impressive performances by first time actors Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor), but uncharacteristically set on Christmas. For all his humanistic and noble approach, Baker is again not that good at writing a proper, focused storyline—the narrative is often improvised, comprised just out of random episodes and disconnected adventures of his protagonists without much plot strategy, which hinders the enjoyment value of the viewers. However, on the other hand, that is Baker's intent—he creates movies as 'raw', messy, dirty (drunk passenger throwing up in the cab) and unglamorized as daily life, in accordance with his movie influences (Cassavetes, Loach, Jarmusch). This is not very cinematic, but it is genuine and honest. One major plot point isn't that convincing, though, and feels forced (would a transgender woman really just drag another woman through the streets, against her will, without anyone intervening or without the latter at least screaming for help in public?). The best moments are when Bakes turns a bit more creative and intimate: Armenian taxi driver Razmik cleverly conceals his sex encounter with prostitute Alexandra by driving his car in a long car wash; the Christmas dinner of the Armenian immigrants where Razmik feigns he has to go to work because their Christmas is actually celebrated later, on January 6. In a very innovative idea for independent cinema, the entire film was filmed using only iPhones. Baker's trademark are startling, emotional endings, and the viewers never know how he will surprise them. The ending in "Tangerine" isn't as strong as the one in "The Florida Project", but it is still endearing—despite all their disagreements and problems, the two main characters have only each other for support.
Grade:++
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