Not to be confused with the Estonian-Georgian film released earlier this year, Tangerine is grafted from a diametrically opposed palette.
TANGERINE
Director: Sean Baker
Cast: Kiki Kitana Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan, James Ransone
Rating: (R16)
Four stars (out of five)
Echoing sensibilities of Kevin Smith's indie classic Clerks, where all the action occurs on one day, Tangerine is a real accomplishment and not just because it was all shot on an iPhone 5.
Unfortunately, most of the press circulating about the film is obsessed with the film-making tools or lack of.
This tends to overlook the fact that Tangerine is a remarkable feat of immersive film-making focused on a side of Los Angeles life that seldom features on the big screen.
Shot on the streets of West Hollywood, the story concentrates on a quest by transgender prostitute Sin-Dee Rella (Kiki Kitana Rodriguez) to track down her cheating pimp-boyfriend Chester (James Ransone) on Christmas Eve.
Having just been released from prison, Sin-Dee Rella stomps down the pavements and back alleys with her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor).
The wonderfully coarse and revealing banter between the two sex workers is amusing, enlightening and a directorial feat of brilliance.
Because the dialogue doesn't feel forced or coerced out of actors unfamiliar with their assumed identities, Tangerine feels fresh, alive and quite unlike any other film you will see this year.
Whether it was due to financial constraints or a clever marketing ploy, the storytelling totally usurps the quirk of filming a feature on a phone.
• Mark Orton
