‘Tangerine’

It’s Christmas Eve and instead of stealing kisses under the mistletoe, Sin-Dee Rella is looking for a hoe, hoe, hoe.

Feisty, furious and fixing to hit a trick, Sin-Dee is at the centre of ‘Tangerine’ (2015). The groundbreaking comedy-drama that stole the show at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Starring transgender actresses Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, ‘Tangerine’ is a day-in-the-life comedy-drama that alights on two sex workers making little of the holiday and much of the fact that Sin-Dee’s pimp boyfriend was cheating on her while she was serving 28 days in jail.

Recently returned and ready to rumble, Sin-Dee makes her way through West Hollywood in search of her boyfriend Chester (James Ransone) and his cisgender side-piece while her best friend Alexandra hands out flyers for her performance at a local bar later that night.

Following Sin-Dee into donut shops, brothels, onto buses and into bars, ‘Tangerine’ offers a raw slice of transgender life while exploring the subculture of sex work as experienced by trans people of colour.

Shot entirely on three iPhone 5 smartphones by writer-director Sean Baker, ‘Tangerine’s’ realism extends to its characters who – contrary to trends that have earned acclaim for actors like Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Huffman and Jared Leto – are portrayed by real-life transgender people rather than cisgender people in drag.

Jettisoning caricature, moralising and origins, the film tells some of Sin-Dee and Alexandra’s story without pity or pointing fingers. Instead, the pair are positioned as strong, sarcastic, street smart individuals who are where they are and are doing what they do to earn money, maintain relationships and follow their dreams.

A film about friendship, loyalty and betrayal delivered in delicious rapid-fire bursts of attitude and humour, above and beyond its striking visuals, ‘Tangerine’ feels genuine. A feeling later reinforced by the fact that the leads were discovered at a Los Angeles LGBT centre and had no serious acting experience.

Though the film doesn’t neglect to incorporate the transgender realities of both verbal and physical abuse and drug use, ‘Tangerine’ doesn’t delve into the becoming.

Besides that of an Armenian cab driver whose double life lands him in hot water, families are notably absent with the passage of coming out, being embraced or shunned a way behind both Sin-Dee and Alexandra.

The effect is incendiary. Fast-paced, vivid with just a few moments of quiet and introspection, the film certainly brings the drama but does eventually wind down, slow and linger on its characters just long enough for the viewer to appreciate the frenetic nature of their struggle to survive. To consider the trials, humiliation and exploitation that has led them to the laundromat where the film ends.

More of an honest peek into a misrepresented or simply ignored reality rather than a causal or voyeuristic portrait of genesis, ‘Tangerine’ is a must-see in the singularity of its simplicity…

Two transgender besties making their way through a f*cked up day.

‘Tangerine'(2015) is now streaming on Netflix.