Tangerine

i think watching this a second time, i definitely appreciated it all the more. it’s just bizarre in the best way. i was totally in awe of how Sean Baker frames people in the shot. the subject matter of prostitutes, pimps, drugs, sex, homosexuality, and gender roles might be foreign to some. but that’s the beauty of it. it draws you in and you start to care about the characters, and you laugh with them. then you admire their resilience. you feel their frustration, sadness, and even shame. eventually, you identify with it. finally, what you see are human beings with the same, or even better, values that you have. it is vulgar, raw, painful, and shocking at times. yet it is going to stand for a long time as this generation’s example of how to write a story, tell a story, and create characters that are not only believable, but memorable. that last shot was so beautiful. this might have to be a top-tier christmas movie for me.