Tangerine (2015)

User Review

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  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Sean Baker's 'Tangerine,' is one of the most refreshing films of recent years, and not only is that because what's on screen is something so unusual, but it's also because of the way it explores that. Yes, whilst the film follows the world of transgender prostitution in LA, it also crucially does so through a highly comedic script which is virtually made up entirely of people's bravado.
  
  The main characters are two transgender women Sin-Dee and Alex, and at the start of the film one reveals to the other in a diner that their boyfriend has been cheating on them. They then go on the hunt for him across the city, all whilst we cut to the life of a taxi driver Chad who we're lead to believe is the boyfriend. It all unfolds across one cyclical day and night like Scorsese's 'After Hours,' and like in some strange alternate version of a Tarantino film, almost everything we get to know about Sin-Dee and Alex comes from their attitude in the script, and everything we know about Chad comes from his silent persona both at work and at home with his oblivious family. The crucial thing is though that both of those behaviours are clearly veneers, and as the film proceeds and the three characters are tested, it becomes increasingly difficult for all of them to keep up appearances.
  
  The result of that is a film which starts out very comedically - a fact emphasised by the creative use of music and editing to exaggerate the attitude of the characters - but then descends into something which embraces its obvious tragedy more and more. That all comes to a head in a brilliantly-constructed final confrontation in a diner which forces all the characters to face up to their problems in their own way, and in the end it's a highly engaging and tragic thing watch, as the bravado is finally stripped from them.
  
  That's helped equally by the fact that the cast are all newcomers, as they lend a degree of realism that may have otherwise been hard to achieve with such a snappy script, and the impressive use of an iPhone camera similarly lends itself to that on-the-ground quality.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Because most of the script is bravado and there are few cuts to close up to really get a sense of what the characters are feeling, it's hard to get under the skin of the characters until the very end.
  
  VERDICT: An entirely fresh approach to movie-making both in what its exploring and the way it explores it, Sean Baker's 'Tangerine,' uses its realism and its snappy script to portray three troubled characters and eventually unpick their bravado.

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