Tangerine is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by Sean S. Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch, starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (Sin-Dee-Rella), Mya Taylor (Alexandra), and James Ransone (Chester). The story follows a transgender sex worker who discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her. Both transgender hookers work the blocks around Santa Monica and Highland. Ultimately, it's the warmth and absence of judgement or condescension toward its marginalized characters that make the film such a vibrant and uplifting snapshot. The film was shot with three iPhone 5s smartphones using anamorphic clip-on adapters, on a microbudget. These nonintrusive cameras play a significant role in the shoot.
Mark Duplass approached Sean S. Baker for a new project. Baker was inspired by films he saw at the New Zealand Film Festival. The film was executive-produced by the Duplass Brothers, and produced by Through Films, Darren Dean, and Shih-Ching Tsou.
Transgender sex worker Sin-Dee Rella, who has just finished a 28-day prison sentence, meets her friend Alexandra, another trans sex worker, at a donut shop in Hollywood on Christmas Eve. Both are black. Alexandra accidentally reveals that Sin-Dee's boyfriend and pimp Chester has been cheating on her with a cisgender woman. Sin-Dee storms out to search the neighborhood for Chester and the woman.
A parallel narrative track follows Armenian cab driver Raznik (Karren Karagulian) as he picks up random fares,when not sampling the trannies. He is clearly partial to that something extra that the street sisters offer. He slips away from Christmas dinner, but is tailed by harridan mother-in-law who converges at Donut Time hangout, soon followed by his wife and child. This farcical ending is slapstick, where all is revealed. Note the donut store server is producer Shih-Ching Tsou.
Angela Watercutter reveals:
Producer/director/actor/writer Mark Duplass had made Baker a standing offer to make a micro-budget film under the Duplass Brothers Productions; as Baker remembers, “I said to him, ‘I want to make a film that takes place on the corner of Santa Monica and Highland [in LA] and I don’t know exactly what I want do to yet, but it’s about two people coming together at Donut Time.'”
The resulting film,
Tangerine, hitting theaters Friday, was made with $100,000 from Duplass and plenty of ingenuity. The film got heavy buzz out of Sundance for being shot on the iPhone 5, but that’s just the start of the DIY tricks Baker used. His two main actresses—Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, the two who come together at Donut Time—Baker found just by hanging out at the aforementioned intersection and he used their real-life stories to inform his script. He also found some of his cast on Vine and Instagram, and even located part of the movie’s electrifying score through SoundCloud. He may have been forced to use the minimal tools available to him, but they ended up being invaluable.
Andrew Martin: Movies & TV Stack Exchange
Question to Director: I’ve wondered about this ever since I saw the movie, and I’ve read a few different theories online, but why did you decide to call the movie “Tangerine”?
Answer: We had a bunch of titles and that was one that everybody kept coming back to. It resonated with everybody, and everyone has their own interpretation. It doesn’t really stem from the dominant hue of the film, but there’s something about the title that reminds me of Christmas. I think I used to get tangerines in my stocking on Christmas, so there was a personal link for me. There are hints throughout the film, like the air freshener in the cab. It’s funny, filmmakers are the only artists who feel obligated to title their works of art. Musicians and poets and novelists don’t have to, but we’re the only ones who feel obligated, like we have to, and I want to get away from that. I’m fine with a title that’s open to interpretation.
