Tangerine Reflection

Tangerine

IMBd 7/10

Rotten Tomatoes 97%

71% Like

Madelon’s Rate: 9.3/10 (93%)

Overall, Tangerine was a cinematic experience. From its unique shooting, completely on an iPhone, to its focus on an underrepresented demographic in film, Tangerine displays many examples of unconventional methodology and narrative that make the film a surprise and excitement to watch. The narrative focuses on a transgender prostitute as the main characters of the film. In addition to this, its cinematography exemplified the ability to create a film, independent of the expensive and professional filming equipment. Despite its lower quality picture, the iPhone was able to catch the aspects of the film, characters, and narrative, based on the filming techniques used, and supported by the musical underscore of the film.

What I focused on when viewing the film was the representations of transgender prostitutes and ethnic minority families (Armenian). I thought the film did a good job of authenticity in its representations. When watching the film, you could tell that it was a lower budget film, and the actors and actresses were not A-list actors, but that almost skit-like scenes acted out, that weren’t dramatized representations of a situation or person, but more down to earth, realistic displays, added an authenticity to the portrayal of the characters in my viewing of the film. So from the beautiful orange and pink infused sunsets, to the Christmas lights that twinkle on the hedge beside Dinah’s profile, the filmmakers did a great job of taking my breath away with the shots they included in the film.