Tangerine (2015)

I'm not going to say I enjoyed the film because "enjoyed" isn't really the right word.  I sort of tolerated this movie the way a conservative person would view a film about sex-trade workers of any identity.  It is very niche.  That being said, I don't think my taste in movies is that conservative, but this was a little too graphic, as you could imagine.  It is raw and gritty in the most honest way possible.  This movie does a good job at shining a light on one of our most marginalized populations in America.  These transgender women are real; they live unforgiving lives without the luxuries and support that Caitlyn Jenner finds in the public eye.  They live in the shadows of Los Angeles, left with sex work as their only option.  It is not a coincidence that the protagonists are people of color.  The fact of the matter is that transgender people of minority races do face issues that white people like Caitlyn Jenner do not.  Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor both give fabulous, if a little stereotypical, performances.  Almost every sentence that comes out of their mouths ends with "bitch" and they sass and slap each other a lot.  The ir banter is very funny, not always laugh-out-loud kind of jokes, but sometimes a little quieter smirks.  The movie culminates in a raucous scene of all-out yelling at a donut shop.  And in the denouement, the viewer realizes that the themes of the film, friendship and betrayal, are universal and these transgender women are not "others" but share similarities with their cis peers.  It is a humanizing project.

What is most notable about this movie is that it was shot entirely on an iPhone on a very low budget. This necessitated some creative cinematography.  The movie has a vivid orange tint which the title draws its name from.  They move swiftly through the streets of Los Angeles, unburdened by heavy equipment.  They shoot candidly close up an exchange in a small bathroom stall and inside a cramped cab.  Though without the professional equipment it appears a little amateurish at times, this movie really displays the versatility of the iPhone and the power of storytelling over all levels of the medium.