The sassy banter is filled with brutal put-downs and smart-ass comebacks, as the three actresses play off each other as if loaded with short-fused fireworks. It also provides new meaning for dragging someone all over town (kudos to Ms O'Hagan for the physicality and bruises). A woman scorned provides the energy of the film as Sin-Dee tracks down this mysterious girl whose name starts with a "D". We quickly learn that Sin-Dee is fresh out of jail after serving 28 days, and she doesn't react well to Alexandra's news that their pimp (and Sin-Dee's boyfriend) Chester (James Ransone) has been cheating with a "natural" woman (played by a very talented Mickey O'Hagan) while she was incarcerated. Sin-Dee (Kiki Kitana Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor) are opposite personality types, but clearly good friends as they chat while splitting a donut in the opening scene. This is not the glitzy/celebrity side of Hollywood, but rather the underbelly of a melting pot city where the paths of transgender streetwalkers and Armenian cab drivers intersect. However, the exciting thing is that the story pays little attention to the vocation of Sin-Dee and Alexandra, and is more a story of friendship, heartbreak, and the sub-cultures that make up a particular community of the L.A. Personally, I haven't seen many (ok, any) films that focus on two transgender prostitutes (both, persons of color). Co-written with Chris Bergoch and filmed entirely on iPhone 5s' (with cinematic apps), this gritty, no-frills film spotlights real problems of real people on a real day on the real streets of Hollywood and Los Angeles. After all, this year's theme is the "No Wave Movement" of the late 1970's, and writer/director Sean Baker's most recent film (and a Sundance favorite) is the perfect complement. It's hard to imagine a better choice for opening night of the 4th annual Oak Cliff Film Festival. Funny, bleak and chaotic.Greetings again from the darkness. That said, although I wouldn't categorise this as enjoyable, it's still an interesting film. It plods a little in places, despite the larger than life characters and a pulsating score and Sin-Dee isn't the easiest character to like. I want to like it more than I do, maybe because I admire what it's trying to do and how it's doing it, but it's not an easy watch. Christmas in LA looks weird to me, not a hint of snow and certainly not the way this film is graded. A event Sin-Dee needs to be at, but her somewhat aggressive sleuthing is getting in the way. Apparently it's Christmas Eve and Alexandra is planning an event. The choice of kit will certainly help with this, but it doesn't feel cheap. Although cut conventionally, a lot of it feels very real, honest, unscripted. Taking to the sunkissed and dirty streets of LA, she's on a mission with friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) to sort Chester and Dinah (Mickey O'Hagan) the girl he's cheating with out. Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is a transgendered prostitute, who's just found out that her pimp boyfriend Chester (James Ransome) is cheating on her. Take that fact away and this is still an impressive film. IPhone 5's, three of them, with an added lens and a stabilising gimble. The first thing everyone always says about Tangerine is that it's shot on iPhones. Reviewed by garethcrook 6 / 10 Bleak, funny.
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