Review of Tangerine (2015) by Sandra S — 06 Sep 2015

Tangerine is a weird movie, but that's okay. This movie's technical aspects and filmmaking show it it's okay to be weird; it's okay to do your own thing. Although imperfect, Tangerine is a movie that really does have the possibility of becoming a cult film.

With its energetic direction and charismatic lead performances, it revels in the batshit craziness of its characters and screwball situations. It's a self-aware indie that--despite having a disjointed plot and some minor pacing issues--knows its abilities and has a great sense of fun about it.

One of the most notable things about Tangerine is the fact that it was shot entirely on an iPhone 5S, and although that may sound like a gimmick, it really doesn't feel like it. The aesthetics and production value may seem different at first, but it quickly becomes rather unnoticeable.

There's actually some pretty solid cinematography here, and similar to this June 2015's Dope, Tangerine is able to create a world where its locations have as much character as its lead actors.

It also helps that the performances are a ton of fun to watch; playing a transgender prostitute looking for her cheating boyfriend on Christmas Eve does indeed sound ridiculous, but the direction and acting embrace the silliness of its premise, and even inject some legitimate pathos into it towards the end.

While Tangerine does a lot of things surprisingly well, such as making a $100,000 budget rarely seem amateur, its script seems to have some issues. The aforementioned logline of the movie is so simplistic that even at 88 minutes, the film does start a drag a little bit towards the end.

There are also a lot of characters at hand, and although a majority of them work very well, there are a few that feel a bit expendable. The film also continues to a show the life of a specific taxi driver, and although his role is expanded upon later in the film, his portrayal mostly feels disjointed for a good amount of time.

So although Tangerine may have been shot on a cell phone with a low budget, its palpable energy and use of music make for a fun, unique, and bawdy screwball comedy. It's fun, crude, ridiculous, and very knowing, all while being respectful to its characters.

It may have some script problems, but Tangerine is still a success. 8/10, really good, one thumb up, above average, etc.