A still from the film Tangerine.
On Thursday night the Yale Film Archive offered movie fans a taste of Tangerine, the 2015 film by celebrated filmmaker Sean Baker, as part of two other celebrations: Art House Theater Day and the tenth anniversary of the film’s release.
The 2015 long Christmas Eve day and night’s journey through the lives of a cast of characters in central Los Angeles also featured a special introduction by Baker beforehand, a filmed Q&A with him afterwards, and giveaways in between.
Art House Theater Day is in its sixth year, an annual program that “brings audiences together to celebrate all that art house theaters — and independent film — contribute to our cultural landscape.”
Tangerine was an inspired choice for one of this year’s screenings. It was shot on iPhones (specifically the 5S model) with a mere $100,000 budget using a crew of only eight people. Baker — the film’s director, cowriter, coproducer, editor, and co-cinematographer — would famously go on to win four Oscars early this year for his film Anora.
Those who arrived early got a free “Support Your Local Cinema” sticker. It was announced that two film posters would be given out free to the first to get to them in the lobby after the film was over. But the main event was what everyone was really there for, and what an event it was: the funny and furious odyssey of Sin-Dee and her best friend Alexandra through the streets, motels, and donut shops to find the person whom Sindee’s boyfriend Chester has been cheating on her with while she was away for 28 days serving time.
You know it’s going to be a unique experience as the film opens with “Merry Christmas Eve, bitch,” and the two friends sharing a donut at the famed Donut Time on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue where Alexandra reveals Chester’s wrongdoings. The action kicks into high gear, backed by a pulsating trap music soundtrack, as the two head out to right the wrongs. In the meantime, the stories of others interconnect and weave through, including Armenian taxi driver Razmik (played by Baker all-star Kareen Karagulian) who is more than a little friendly with the two and has his own trials and tribulations to deal with, especially his wife’s family, who are visiting for the holiday.
Baker discussed his inspiration for making the film in the Q&A afterwards, how he lived a mile from that corner and felt the stories of sex workers had been “underexplored” since the ’80s.
Searching for consultants and collaborators, he ended up meeting Mya Taylor (who would play Alexandra), who then introduced him to Kiki Rodriguez (who would play Sin-Dee). The two of them would end up working with cowriters Baker and Chris Bergoch to form the plot and storylines that would become the basis for the film. The “potential in their dynamic” that Baker initially saw is realized to its fullest in this film as both balance the humor and heartbreak they encounter as transgender sex workers maneuvering through their jobs and their relationships.
Baker said that Taylor wanted the film to be funny, and it sure was. The audience had a blast and engaged in multiple laugh-out-loud moments.
“We use humor to cope through the hardships,” he pointed out, adding that his favorite films combine comedy and pathos.
“If you leave one out, it doesn’t ring true.”
At one point during the film, Razmik’s mother-in-law says, “Los Angeles is a beautiful lie.” Although some of the truths that come out in the film can be considered ugly, beauty does abound. The friendship between the two women is the most real and most beautiful, with love, anger, and every feeling in between, but always with concern, support, and compassion.
Baker said his films are based in reality. The way he films this one — following the two through the streets, on the busses and subways (who knew LA had a subway?), and into the city’s more hidden corners — offers the viewer a sense of this specific community in all its darkness and light.
Which brings me to Baker’s use of color: It is one of his greatest skills. Reds and yellows glow, and sunshine seems to envelope places you didn’t think sunshine could reach. Even the darkness is lit in a way that makes magic where magic does not often happen. But at the core of it all are this film’s characters and their relationships. Strip away all the glamour and glitz and the small, independent film can show you people simply being people. No matter where they live and what they do, they are human. These actors ignite that humanity, and Baker captures their flame.
After the Q&A was done Baker declared, “Keep seeing movies on the big screen.” I know I intend to do that. How about you?
Yale Film Archive begins their fall screening series on Aug. 28. Please visit their website for more information. All screenings are free and open to the public. For more information on Art House Theater Day, please visit the Art House Convergence website.
Karen Ponzio Photo.
Art House Theater Day swag!