Tangerine makes it hard to judge any of its characters too quickly for all its unbridled energy, it’s one of the more nuanced films of the last decade, bested by few (save Baker himself, in his remarkable follow-up The Florida Project). Not that you’ll find any Hallmark Channel moralizing here. However it shakes out in real life, the idyll of Christmas is one of togetherness and love, wherever one may find it losing sight of that, in favor of fleeting and selfish concerns, is a big part of what gets most of Tangerine’s characters in trouble in the first place. Subsequent viewings, however, reveal that not only is the time of year relevant to Tangerine’s story, it’s essential to the crux of the film, and yields its most resonant moments. ![]() The fact that the whole film was shot on a souped-up iPhone, while remarkable, also draws attention away from this important consideration. It’s acknowledged throughout that the film’s events take place on Christmas Eve, but when you’re watching the frenetic story of a transgender sex worker (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) traipsing down Hollywood Boulevard exacting justice after being made a cuckquean while in prison… well, it’s easy for the holiday cheer to get lost in the shuffle. This wasn’t an obvious choice from the outset, even to me: like Die Hard, it takes place in sun-bleached Los Angeles (albeit a very different, much more realistic LA than that of Die Hard), not exactly your archetypal Christmas setting. With that in mind, I guess it’s time to throw my own smartass hat in the ring, and say that Sean Baker’s excellent 2015 film Tangerine belongs in your holiday traditions, right next to stocking stuffers and eggnog. With a lot of pushing and a little luck, sometimes it spreads, and a tradition is born. where they attempt to convince a larger audience that their movie of choice deserves Classic Christmas Movie status. ![]() The latter sort are rarely viewed as part of the canon right away: the trajectory usually starts with some pop culture-obsessed smartass remembering that this or that movie takes place around Christmas, after which they write about it, host public screenings, make YouTube videos, etc. Some movies, like Home Alone or A Christmas Story, are shoo-ins for “holiday classic” status from the jump, but leftfield contenders like Die Hard? Perhaps less so.
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