Tangerine tells a gritty tale of Hollywood street life

Mya Taylor as Alexandra and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Sin-Dee Rella in a scene from the Sean Baker film Tangerine. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui Film Society's next screening was shot on an iPhone by American director Sean Baker in 2015.

Described as a raunchy comedy set among the streets, doughnut shops, brothels and clubs of West Hollywood, critics have loved it.

"It's trashy, lurid, and hilariously profane," wrote Wesley Morris of Grantland.

"... exploitation in the best, most cinematic sense – but without ever losing the thread of human ache that connects the handful of characters (including two transgender prostitutes, an Armenian cab driver, and his family) to each other.

"Alexandra (Mya Taylor) accidentally tells Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) that her man (and pimp) has been seeing someone else. She goes ballistic, stalking the streets of Los Angeles looking first for him, then the actual woman (a 'fish') he's been seeing.

"Even among the least-regulated sex workers, there's a code of honour, and 'this bitch,' whoever she is, has violated it.

"Meanwhile, the cabbie, Razmik (Karren Karagulian, a wonderful Baker regular), is making his rounds on the same streets. Obviously, he and the hookers converge for a confrontation, along with some other characters, including the pimp …

"This is what you came here for, something that feels real – and not because the filmmakers are telling you it is, but because the filmmaking has brought pavement and doughnuts and wigs and the smell of crystal meth to life."

Tangerine screens at the Davis Theatre, Whanganui Regional Museum, Watt St, at 7pm on Monday, June 25.