The most shocking thing about Tangerine-currently being touted as one of the best films of 2015-is just how conventional it feels. Once you get past the novelty of a film providing some representation of an oft-marginalised group plus the iPhone aesthetics you realise that Tangerine is just another 'crazy day in LA'. And sadly it isn't one that's particularly dramatic or even funny. Which isn't to say the film is bad, simply underwhelming and leads one to wonder exactly what the fuss is about.
But to the film itself. The film is centred on Sin Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor), two trans-women and prostitutes whose friendship is very much the emotional core of the film. Sin Dee has just finished a brief stint in jail only to discover that Chester, her boyfriend and pimp, has been cheating on her with a 'fish' (a cisgender female). So they embark on a haphazard voyage across LA to track down the fish and confront Chester. Meanwhile Alexandra is focused on singing at a local club and trying to encourage her friends to come.
What follows feels like a rather bog-standard succession of encounters among the denizens of Los Angeles mostly other transgender people until Sin Dee finally finds her fish. The problem being that while most films would use each scene to construct a comic set-piece or flesh out its characters to Tangerine they're merely stepping stones. Each new character is a chance for Sin Dee to demonstrate her obnoxiousness and Alexandra her exasperation. There are no surprises, Sin Dee finds the woman and drags her across town, stretching out suspension of disbelief in the process, before at least trying to reconcile things with Alexandra.
Alexandra's show is the tragic peak of her character. Something she's been putting considerable time and effort into an in the end is just another seedy LA bar that she had to pay to sing at. It's a small, sad performance only attended by a late Sin Dee and the fish she's literally dragged into the situation. To Tangerine's credit there's no pat moment of reconciliation, no revelatory turn that will redeem these characters of their bad behavior. This is a film about loud, rude angry people in a world where the only thing they have of value is their own bodies. It would be disingenuous to suggest some greater change or arc is going to come across two people who exist as the flotsam of an abusive industry.
The friendship between Sin Dee and Alexandra is the film's strongest quality. Two people with only each other whose loyalty is tested by Sin Dee's temper and Alexandra's aspirations. Alexandra is definitely the better characterised of the two, just as outspoken as Sin Dee and quick to anger but tempered with a desire to do better. She's past being sick of her life as a prostitute and has little time for Sin Dee's antics but is still ashamed to disappoint her.
The film also takes time out for a subplot about Razmik (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian cabdriver with an interest in Sin Dee and Alexandra, unbeknownst to his wife and child. Early scenes of Ramik picking up passengers, all with their own comic moments to experience, feel inorganic to the actions of Sin Dee and Alexandra. And while his story does eventually payoff it doesn't stop the character feeling like a distraction from the main action.
Eventually the disparate characters of Sin Dee, Alexandra, Chester and Razmik come together for a farcical showdown at a local donut shop. While the scene does bring the film to some sense of a climx there's little in the way of drama in a scene about five or so people yelling at each other. Secrets are revealed and everyone hurls verbal abuse at each other until they can no longer stand it. Funny yes, but without any kind of dramatic context to make it meaningful.
Tangerine is an exceptional film, but it's exceptional only for its courage and the circumstances which brought it about. The fact that it was shot on an iPhone certainly gives it a unique look but one devoid of the suspense, amusement or engagement we get from clever uses of cinematography and editing. I am glad that Tangerine exists and that contemporary culture is recognising transgender people as a part of our society's fabric but this is not a film I'll be returning to soon.
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