Director: Sean Baker
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 3.0
Fresh out of prison, prostitute Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and her friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) try to find Sin-Dee's pimp/drug dealer boyfriend Chester (James Ransone) who's been (allegedly) cheating on her; elsewhere, a cab driver named Razmik (Karren Karagulian) has a wife and child, but leads a double life. Ultra-low budget indie - actually shot on an iPhone! (with a special lens) - is both seedy and intimate, a portrait of individuals (transgender women) mainstream cinema generally won't touch or mocks outright: Rodriguez and Taylor make their characters feel completely real, albeit flawed (Rodriguez thinks nothing of brutalizing people; Taylor may not be a very good friend after all). I like the way Baker works in Razmik's storyline and the way his 'heteronormative' life is a complete lie as compared to Sin-Dee's brashness; Ransone's character is a hedonist with a head full of excuses and lies. It's a bit amateurish - considering the budgetary constraints - and rambling in parts, but if there's a movie that I've seen in forever that evokes the spirit of Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, it's this (hell, Mickey O'Hagan looks like she wandered off the set of Chelsea Girls).
