Tangerine sneak peek Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Readed  theater Q&A w:dir Sean Baker +
Channel: jim fouratt's REEL DEAL : MOVIES THAT MATTER
Date: 2015-07-10

the Film Society of Lincoln Center held a sold out sneak of Sundance Film Festival's breakout film TANGERINE opening 7/10/15 .Set in the West Hollywood  in a community of "tranny hookers" Shot on an IPHONE with mostly first time actors it follows one 24 hour day in a tight knit group of "working girls" whose survival depends on how many  tricks they can turn ..sometimes lubricated by drugs and full of novella-ish high drama of romance, betrayal, friendship and survival. The casting of first time trans actors Kitana Kiki Rodriguez , Mya Taylor,not only brings an authenticity to the roles but because of the iphone use  remarkable immediacy and intimacy to their performances .Baker also has a few of his professional actors from  previous films (Prince of Broadway , Starlet)  including Karren Karagulian and James Ramson . One subplot involves a married taxi driver with a taste for quickie tranny sex and his Armenian wife, mother-in-law and wife all played by superstars back in Armenia .. What baker has accomplished is to humanize people, particularly trans of color who representations are usually silent and one-dimensional stereotypes. The glue that holds the film together and turns a steamy slice of survival by the underclass is a wild streak of non-self deprecating bumptious  humor that laces the film .. Baker could be the US indie version of the British film maker Mike Leigh  mashed up with the sensibility and humanity of John Waters . Not since andy Warhol have we seen such vivid and individual representations of gender variant individuals. GO ..