STARLET (2012) & TANGERINE (2015) - TWO MORE SEAN BAKER FILMS AND AS FAR AS WE'RE CONCERNED TWO MORE MASTERPIECES

 

So, I was a little late getting on the Sean Baker train but we all know the pleasure of finding a filmmaker you really like and then going back through their catalog to get properly caught up. It can be a lot of fun and sometimes as in the case here an absolute joy. The four I have seen so far (rated individually at bottom) cause me to come to one undeniable conclusion - this guy has the sh*t. His movies are about real people that I might actually know dealing with situations that I can identify with and not this crap on the news. His actors are chosen so perfectly his stories come to life in a way that only the greats can do. He likes protagonists that make a lot of bad choices to rectify a certain situation in their life until all those bad choices come barreling down on the character in one fell swoop. 

In Starlet, "Jane," an aspiring actress (the stunning Dree Hemingway,) her choices aren't so much bad as just strange. She really means well and has a good heart even though she works in the adult film business, which, if you didn't know already, is integrated in a lot of his films along with wonderfully refreshing LGBT themes. She buys an old thermos at a yard sale to use as a vase and finds ten thousand dollars in the bottom. While most characters would be caught up in the should-I-keep-it or not realm. This one decides to befriend the old lady who sold it to her (Besedka Johnson) who turns out to be very lonely and bitter but eventually receiving of her new young friend's outreach. One of the brilliant achievements of Starlet is it keeps us guessing until the end whether Jane's intentions are genuine or just a product of her guilt over finding (and yes, keeping) the old lady's money.

There are some great other characters here like Jane's two roommates, a drug-addicted stripper who is also a friend to Jane and her pimp, played excellently by James Ransone, who Baker would use again in his next film, Tangerine. And as if all this isn't enough, Baker shoots beautifully in San Fernando Valley (yay!) Not since Magnolia have I seen the valley framed and photographed so nicely. 

Starlet is currently streaming free on Tubi. Roku (premium,) Amazon Prime, and VOD outlets. This rating is going to surprise some but a masterpiece deserves 5 stars/5.

In Tangerine, a transgender working girl named Sin-Dee is back on the scene after 28 days in the slammer and finds out her pimp boyfriend hasn't been faithful. She and her best friend embark on a mission through Los Angeles (a lot of it Hollywood and East Hollywood) to find said pimp and get to the bottom of the rumor. Along the way they pass through several LA subcultures including the cab business, I love it. Like I said, this guy Sean Baker is the sh*t! 

Baker usually seems to go for intense endings as his character's flaws and bad choices come to a climatic crash but in Tangerine this ending is perhaps the most intense of the four I am posting about here. Not as deep in it's themes and lessons as Starlet but equally engaging and will have you from frame one. 

Tangerine currently streams on Fubo, Direct TV and all the VOD outlets, on sale for only 4.99 on Amazon and Vudu.  4.0 stars/5

My ratings on all four -

Starlet (2012)  5 stars

Tangerine (2015) 4.0 stars/5

The Florida Project (2019) 5 stars/5

Red Rocket (2021) 4.5 stars/5