Tangerine

Although Tangerine played at the Castro Theater on Tuesday, I saw it last Friday at the Roxie.  To be specific, I saw it at the Little Roxie which seems a more appropriate venue than the cavernous Castro for a small independent film like Tangerine.

Tangerine starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez & Mya Taylor; directed by Sean Baker; (2015) - Official Website

Tangerine premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.  It has received quite a bit of press because it was filmed on iPhones using an $8 app.  It also screened at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival.

The film is a screwball comedy set among the tranny streetwalkers in Hollywood.  The protagonist is Sin Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) who is just out of a 30 day lockup.  She meets up with her friend and fellow tranny hooker Alexandra (Mya Taylor).  Alexandra lets slip that Sin Dee's boyfriend & pimp has been cheating on her with a woman as in "born with a vagina" woman.  These transgender terms are always hard for me to convey.

This propels Sin Dee to search the back alleys and sleazy motels for the elusive Dinah.  Along the way, we get a glimpse into the lives of Alexandra (who wants to be a singer) and an Armenian cab driver Razmik (Karren Karagulian) who likes to pick up the trans streetwalkers and go down on them.

This all sounds sordid.  There is a scene where Sin Dee finds Dinah in a cheap motel giving a blowjob in the shower which is outrageous enough to give one pause.  For some reason, there is a light-heartedness to the film which belies its seedy environs.

Alexandra spends most of the film giving out flyers to her performance at a club.  No one shows up except Sin Dee with Dinah forcibly in tow.  It turns out Alexandra has to pay the club to perform.  It's sad and funny which describes many of the scenes in Tangerine.

The finale is set in a donut shop where Razmik, his mother-in-law, wife, infant child, Dinah, Sin Dee, Alexandra, Sin Dee's pimp Chester (James Ransone) and the Asian proprietor of the shop converge.  It reminded me of one of those Golden Age comedies where the characters converge in the end and their secrets are exposed.  Actually, while watching Tangerine, it felt vaguely familiar because it was a pastiche of genres & influences.  It was a screwball comedy, a road trip except Sin Dee walked or took the bus everywhere and at times reminded me of the works of John Cassavetes and Abel Ferrara.  Tangerine carves out something unique though.  Any film that can have not one but two comic scenes of failed fellatio by streetwalkers gets my nod of approval.

If I recall correctly, actors Kitana Kiki Rodriguez & Mya Taylor are long-time friends and tight-lipped about their past & present lives.  They had input in the character development.  The relationship between Sin Dee & Alexandra is the bedrock of the film.  Repeatedly, the depth of their friendship becomes apparent in their actions.  That gives the film an emotional foundation and makes these strange (for me) characters seems not so strange.

Tangerine is a niche film.  Certainly some people will be offended by it but ultimately it is a film about friendship & self-discovery.

The Puzzle Within the Castro Theater's April 2015 Theater Calendar

Before I forget, the Landmark Aquarius theater in Palo Alto is closed for remodeling until "late summer 2015."

When I first moved to the Bay Area in the early 1990s, my co-workers would take long lunches on Friday in North Beach or Chinatown.  Little Joe's was the preferred destination (they had this incredible aquarium).  However, sometimes we would go to Caffe Sport, Capp's Corner or US Restaurant.  The US Restaurant on Columbus closed many years ago although, confusingly, years later the son-in-law of the owners opened a place a block away called the Original US Restaurant which is still open.

Anyway, Capp's Corner (Powell at Green) is closing on April 19.  I just finished read The Season of the Witch by David Talbot (actor Lyle Talbot's son).  A tremendous book, The Season of the Witch recounts San Francisco's cultural history from the late 1960s to mid 1980s.  Having moved here in 1992, I can relate to many of the events and people profiled in Talbot's book.  When a place like Capp's Corner closes, it makes me realize that I'm as far removed from the early 1990s now as I was from the late 1960s when I first arrived here.

Enough about personal and cultural nostalgia, let's get to the film nostalgia.

The Castro Theater's April 2015 calendar had a puzzle after a two month absence.  It was pretty easy which means I didn't have to use the internet to identify the actors.

April 27 - I recognized Jack Lemmon immediately.

April 28 - this took me a little longer.  I think it was because I was expecting it to be an American actress.  After looking at it for a few minutes, I thought there was something European about the woman.  That's when I realized is was Catherine Deneuve.

I had no idea what Jack Lemmon & Catherine Deneuve had to do with August but a quick internet search revealed they made a film together - The April Fools (1969).  I have not seen or heard of the film.  For some reason, the pairing of Lemmon & Deneuve does not strike me as interesting although I am a fan of both actors' work.

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The calendar in April looks promising.

April 10 - Midnites for Maniacs brings one of my guilty pleasures to the big screen.  I saw The Rock upon its original release in the theaters here in San Francisco.  Unfortunately, my film log doesn't go back that far.  I remember thinking that it was a pretty entertaining action film which even by the mid 1990s I was eschewing.  With 20 years of hindsight, the cast of The Rock is rock solid.  The Rock is paired with Rocky IV which in litany of Rocky films is forgettable.  Once they killed of Mickey (Burgess Meredith), the series went downhill.  In Rocky IV, they kill off the next best character in the series - Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers).  It's as if the series has to cannibalize itself in order to survive.  Why couldn't Stallone kill off Paulie instead?

April 12 & 13 - American Sniper & The Theory of Everything, respectively.  If I see these two films, I will have seen all eight films nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscar.  The April 12 double bill is particularly strong - two Clint Eastwood directed films.  American Sniper is paired with The Unforgiven which is a great film.

April 22 - the actress/director Elaine May directed four films.  I've only seen her The Heartbreak Kid.  A New Leaf was May's debut feature as a director.  She co-stars with the always dependable Walter Mathau.  I've seen portions of this film on television.

April 29 - I have to see if I can get away from the 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival that night but I'm long overdue to see what the hullabaloo is about regarding the infamous lesbian sex scene between Gina Gershon & Jennifer Tilly in the Wachowski Brothers' Bound (1996).  Of course, the Wachowski Brothers are no longer the Wachowski Brothers.  Bound is paired with Alfred Hitchcock's Rope which features a memorable performance by Jimmy Stewart.

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Castro Theater Calendar - April 2015