Classic Film Review #28: Tangerine

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Sean Baker’s audaciously loud breakthrough feature, which he co-wrote with his The Florida Project collaborator Chris Bergoch, is a fascinating study of the subcultures that permeate throughout Los Angeles. Shot using three iPhones, Tangerine focuses on a chaotic day in the life of a transgender sex worker (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) who discovers that her boyfriend/pimp has been cheating.

Rodriguez and co-star Mya Taylor are a revelation and bring an enormous amount of energy to Baker’s film that is only partially matched by its frenetic soundtrack, which oscillates between pulsating drum and bass and opera. Equally as impressive is Baker’s ambitious direction, aided in no small part by Radium Cheung’s innovative cinematography, which manages to find a new way of documenting and exploring one of cinema’s most treasured locations.

Above all else, Tangerine provides an essential spotlight to the transgender community, one that simultaneously celebrates the vivacity of its central characters and the solidarity that quietly binds them together.