Tangerine (2015)
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A transgender sex worker discovers her boyfriend and pimp is cheating on her and sets out to confront him.
The story
On Christmas Eve in Hollywood, transgender sex worker Sin-Dee Rella meets her friend Alexandra at a donut shop. Alexandra reveals that Sin-Dee's boyfriend and pimp, Chester, has been cheating on her with another woman. Enraged, Sin-Dee storms out to search the neighborhood for Chester and the other woman. Meanwhile, Alexandra prepares for a musical performance, while an Armenian cab driver named Razmik navigates his own complicated personal life and interactions with the local sex trade.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After learning of Chester's infidelity, Sin-Dee tracks down the woman, Dinah, at a motel. She hauls Dinah onto a bus to find Chester, only to be taunted by her. Realizing she is late for Alexandra's performance, Sin-Dee drags Dinah to the bar instead, where they eventually reconcile and smoke crystal meth. Razmik, having left his family to find Alexandra, is eventually tracked down by his mother-in-law, Ashken, who hires another cab driver, Karo, to help. Sin-Dee eventually confronts Chester at a donut shop; he claims Dinah means nothing and reveals he is engaged to Sin-Dee. However, the confrontation turns chaotic when Razmik arrives to buy sex from Sin-Dee, leading to a massive argument involving his wife and mother-in-law. After being kicked out, Chester reveals he also slept with Alexandra. A devastated Sin-Dee is harassed by transphobic clients, and Alexandra helps her clean up at a laundromat.
- First release year
- 2015
- Runtime (minutes)
- 88
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; Armenian
- Directors
- Sean Baker
- Writers
- Sean Baker · writer; Chris Bergoch · writer
- Cast and characters
- Kitana Kiki Rodriguez · Sin-Dee Rella; Mya Taylor · Alexandra; James Ransone · Chester; Karren Karagulian; Mickey O'Hagan; Alla Tumanian
- Genres
- comedy-drama; independent
- Themes
- betrayal; friendship; transgender identity
- Tone and mood
- exuberantly raw; stylistic tour-de-force; comedy
- Premise and plot tags
- buddy comedy-drama; Christmas comedy-drama; LGBTQ-related; independent film
- Content notes
- transgender-related; prostitution
- Reception
- The film received critical acclaim for its screenplay, direction, performances, and portrayal of transgender individuals, earning universal acclaim on Metacritic.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 86 · scale: 100 · review count: 35
- Awards and nominations
- Directors to Watch · Sean S. Baker · 2015 · Win; Stanley Kubrick Award · Traverse City Film Festival · 2015 · Win; Prix Nouvelles Vagues · Festival international du film de La Roche-sur-Yon · 2015 · Win
- Production trivia
- The film was shot on three iPhone 5s smartphones.; The money saved on equipment was used to pay extras and book filming locations.; Baker informed Moondog Labs that the anamorphic adapters would let the film crew 'shoot the way Sergio Leone would shoot westerns'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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