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Tangerine (film)

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Not to be confused with Tangerines (film).

Tangerine
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySean S. Baker
Written by
  • Sean S. Baker
  • Chris Bergoch
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
  • Sean S. Baker
  • Radium Cheung
Edited bySean S. Baker
Distributed byMagnolia Pictures
Release dates
  • January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23) (Sundance)
  • July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10) (United States)
  • November 13, 2015 (2015-11-13) (United Kingdom)
Running time
88 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish
  • Armenian
Budget$100,000[2]
Box office$794,202[3]

Tangerine is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by Sean S. Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch, starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, and James Ransone. The story follows a transgender sex worker who discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015.[4] It had a limited release on July 10, 2015 through Magnolia Pictures.[5] It received positive reviews.

Plot

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. 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.

Alexandra hands out flyers for her musical performance that evening, and argues with a client who refuses to pay; their argument is broken up by the police. Razmik, an Armenian cab driver, picks up a prostitute, but ejects her from his cab when he discovers she is not transgender. He meets Alexandra and fellates her in a car wash, then goes home to eat Christmas dinner with his family. Alexandra goes to the venue to perform her music show, but no customers have arrived.

Sin-Dee finds the woman she is looking for, Dinah, at a brothel in a motel. She hauls her onto a bus to find Chester. Dinah taunts her for believing she is Chester's only girlfriend. Sin-Dee realizes she is late for Alexandra's performance and drags Dinah there. The two smoke meth in the bar bathroom and Sin-Dee applies Dinah's make-up. Alexandra performs to a mostly empty bar.

Razmik leaves his family to attend Alexandra's performance, saying he has to work, but discovers he is too late and searches for Sin-Dee. Suspicious, his mother-in-law asks another Armenian cab driver to take her to him.

Sin-Dee, Alexandra and Dinah go to the donut shop, where Sin-Dee confronts Chester. He insists Dinah means nothing to him. Razmik arrives, followed by his mother-in-law; she calls Razmik's wife, who arrives with their daughter. An argument escalates until the shop owner calls the police. Razmik and his family go back to their apartment. Dinah walks back to the brothel, but is told there is no room for her.

Outside the donut shop, Chester tells Sin-Dee that he also slept with Alexandra. Hurt, Sin-Dee leaves and tries to pick up some clients; they throw urine in her face and drive away shouting transphobic abuse. Alexandra takes Sin-Dee to a laundromat to clean her wig, and gives her her own wig to wear while they wait.

Cast

  • Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Sin-Dee Rella
  • Mya Taylor as Alexandra
  • James Ransone as Chester
  • Mickey O'Hagan as Dinah
  • Karren Karagulian as Razmik
  • Alla Tumanian as Ashken
  • Luiza Nersisyan as Yeva
  • Arsen Grigoryan as Karo
  • Ian Edwards as Nash
  • Scott Krinsky as Parsimonious John
  • Clu Gulager as the Cherokee
  • Ana Foxx as Selena
  • Chelcie Lynn as Madam Jillian

Production

Development

Mark Duplass approached Sean S. Baker for a new project. Baker was inspired by films he saw at the New Zealand Film Festival.[6] The film was executive-produced by the Duplass Brothers, and produced by Through Films, Darren Dean, and Shih-Ching Tsou.[7]

Baker and Chris Bergoch collaborated on the screenplay for Tangerine from September through December 2013. Baker and Bergoch met transgender actresses Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, who had no major acting experience, at a Los Angeles LGBT Center in 2013.[8]

Filming

Principal photography for Tangerine took place in Hollywood, California (including West Hollywood clubs and Santa Monica Boulevard[9]) on Christmas Eve 2013 and wrapped on January 18, 2014.[10] The film was shot with three iPhone 5s smartphones by Baker and Radium Cheung, due to budget constraints.[11][9]

Baker said: "Even with a DSLR, we would have ended up having extra crewmembers, and I would have had to find certain lenses, which I just didn't have the budget for. So what we did is just start looking at iPhone experiments on Vimeo, and we were very impressed by what we found. We realized that, instead of spending money on the equipment, we could put the money on screen on things like locations and having extras."[9] They used the FiLMIC Pro app, a video app (to control focus, aperture and color temperature, as well as capture video clips at higher bit-rates) and an anamorphic adapter from Moondog Labs (to capture widescreen).[9] They also used Tiffen's Steadicam Smoothee to capture smooth moving shots.[9]

Post-production

Baker used Final Cut Pro for a preliminary look of the film and Da Vinci Resolve to correct contrast and saturation.[9]

Release

Tangerine made its world premiere January 23, 2015 at the Sundance Film Festival as part of their NEXT program.[12] Magnolia Pictures bought world rights to the film on January 27, 2015 and confirmed they planned releasing the film later in 2015.[13] The film went on to screen at the San Francisco International Film Festival on May 6, 2015.[14] the Seattle International Film Festival on June 4, 2015.[15] and the Oak Cliff Film Festival on June 11, 2015.[16] The film had its Australian debut at the Sydney Film Festival on June 12, 2015.[17]

The film then played at the Provincetown International Film Festival on June 17, 2015[18] and the BAMcinemaFest on June 28, 2015.[19] and in the Czech Republic the film premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 8, 2015.[20] The film was released in a North American limited release on July 10, 2015.[5] The film was released in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2015, by Metrodome Group.[21]

Critical reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of 99 surveyed film critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads, "Tangerine shatters casting conventions and its filmmaking techniques are up-to-the-minute, but it's an old-fashioned comedy at heart — and a pretty wonderful one at that."[22] On Metacritic, it has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."[23] The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a singularly delightful girlfriend movie with an attitude".[24] Indiewire gave the film an A- grade, describing it as "a breath of fresh air in an indie landscape that often tends to focus on #WhitePeopleProblems."[25] Variety's Justin Chang wrote that Tangerine is "an exuberantly raw and up-close portrait of one of Los Angeles' more distinctive sex-trade subcultures."[26] A.V. Wire's Seth Malvín Romero said "Tangerine is a stylistic tour-de-force. An original, dazzling, and unforgettable portrayal of betrayal and friendship that easily bests any other film this year."[27] In a positive review, The A.V. Club's Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote that "for all of Tangerine's movement [...] and all of its slapping and arguing, it’s the movie’s quietest, softest moments that register most strongly." He concludes, "Perhaps these moments feel so graceful because they are oases; they matter because of the harsh, unforgiving terrain that has to be crossed in order to reach them. This terrain is drawn garishly, vividly, and with a sense of fun."[28]

Awards campaign

The first Academy Awards campaigns for openly transgender actresses supported by a film producer were launched for this film, in 2015, for actresses Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, even though both were not nominated.[29]

Awards

2015 : Prix Nouvelles Vagues au Festival international du film de La Roche-sur-Yon (France)

List of Accolades
Award / Film Festival Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Detroit Film Critics Society Breakthrough Sean Baker Nominated [35]
Gotham Independent Film Awards 2015 Audience Award Tangerine Won [36]
Best Feature Tangerine Nominated
Breakthrough Actor Kitana Kiki Rodriguez Nominated
Mya Taylor Won[37]
Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Sean Baker Nominated [38]
Best Feature Tangerine Nominated
Best Female Lead Kitana Kiki Rodriguez Nominated
Best Supporting Female Mya Taylor Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Original Screenplay Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch Nominated [39]
Best Supporting Actress Mya Taylor Won[40]

See also

References

  1. ^ "TANGERINE (15)". British Board of Film Classification. October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  2. ^ Watercutter, Angela (July 7, 2015). "Tangerine Is Amazing—But Not Because of How They Shot It". Wired. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  3. ^ "Tangerine (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  4. ^ Pearson, Ryan (January 28, 2015). "Sundance Watch: 'Tangerine' shot entirely with iPhones". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Unknown (2015). "Tangerine". Magnolia Pictures. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  6. ^ "Magnolia Pictures :: Press Kits (download)". Magnolia Pictures. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  7. ^ Canfield, David (January 27, 2015). "Magnolia Acquires Duplass Brothers-Produced 'Tangerine' After Acclaimed Sundance Debut". Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  8. ^ Sciretta, Peter (January 24, 2015). "Sundance Shocker: Sean Baker's Tangerine Was Shot Entirely on iPhone 5s". Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Matsumoto, Neil (July 14, 2015). "Down The Street". HD Video Pro. Werner Publishing Corp. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  10. ^ @tangerinefilm (January 17, 2014). "🍊wrapped" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Sciretta, Peter (January 2015). "Sundance Shocker: Sean Baker's Tangerine Was Shot Entirely on iPhone 5s". Slash Film. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  12. ^ Chang, Justin (December 3, 2014). "Sundance Film Festival Unveils 2015 Competition, Next Lineups". Variety. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  13. ^ Fleming Jr., Mike (January 27, 2015). "Magnolia Bites Into 'Tangerine' – Sundance". Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  14. ^ http://www.sffs.org/sfiff58/program/tangerine#.VZvchlwUrFI
  15. ^ http://www.siff.net/festival-2015/tangerine
  16. ^ http://oakclifffilmfestival.com/films/tangerine/
  17. ^ http://tix2.sff.org.au/session_sff.asp?sn=Tangerine&g_cdr=1
  18. ^ http://www.ptownfilmfest.org/films/schedule_detail.php?id=27
  19. ^ http://www.bam.org/film/2015/tangerine
  20. ^ Choi, Sarah (June 2, 2015). "2015 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Unveils 50th Lineup". Indiewire. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  21. ^ de Semlyen, Phil (October 9, 2015). "Exclusive New Poster for Tangerine". Empire Online. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  22. ^ "Tangerine (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  23. ^ "Tangerine Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  24. ^ Rooney, David. "'Tangerine': Sundance Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  25. ^ Walsh, Katie. "Sundance Review: 'Tangerine' Is A Fresh, Funny, And Original Stream Of Pure Energy". Indiewire. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  26. ^ Chang, Justin. "Sundance Film Review: 'Tangerine'". Variety. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  27. ^ Romero, Seth. "A.V. Wire Film Review: 'Tangerine'". Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  28. ^ "Tangerine is the frenetic transgender iPhone Christmas movie of the year". www.avclub.com. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  29. ^ "Magnolia Pictures pushes Oscars nod for trans actresses | Spectrum". Spectrum.suntimes.com. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  30. ^ "The San Francisco Film Critics Circle". 2015.
  31. ^ "Mya Taylor Becomes the First Transgender Actress to Win a Gotham Award". BET.com. December 1, 2015.
  32. ^ "Variety Announces 10 Directors to Watch for 2015". Variety. December 2, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  33. ^ Pond, Steve (July 11, 2015). "Karlovy Vary Film Festival Gives Top Prizes to 'Bob and the Trees,' 'Youth'". TheWrap. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  34. ^ "2015 Award Winners". Traverse City Film Festival. August 2, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  35. ^ "The 2015 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards Nominations". Detroit Film Critics Society. December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  36. ^ "Gotham Awards Nominations: 'Diary of a Teenage Girl,' 'Carol' Lead the Pack". Variety. October 22, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  37. ^ "Mya Taylor Becomes the First Transgender Actress to Win a Gotham Award". BET.com. December 1, 2015.
  38. ^ King, Susan (November 24, 2015). "Todd Haynes' 'Carol' leads the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations with six". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  39. ^ "2015 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards". San Francisco Film Critics Circle. December 13, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  40. ^ "The San Francisco Film Critics Circle". 2015.
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