cinematographysource:To a transgender woman, a wig is sacred. Its removal, particularly in public, r
cinematographysource:To a transgender woman, a wig is sacred. Its removal, particularly in public, recalls a time in life when she wasn’t able to inhabit her body on her own terms. In the case of “Tangerine,” the gesture is the ultimate mark of loyalty, as well as Alexandra’s tacit atonement for her transgression. But for Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez - the trans actresses who portrayed Alexandra and Sin-Dee, respectively, and consulted Baker and co-writer Chris Bergoch on the script - it was tough to swallow. So much so, in fact, that Taylor and Rodriguez requested a closed set, not wanting any friends or spectators to witness the moment. Crew members stood in the parking lot outside the laundromat to ensure no one could see inside the building. “They loved it and at the same time they hated it because it truly was a moment in which they’re completely stripped naked. In taking off their wigs, they were completely naked,” said director Sean Baker. “And I knew that, and that’s why the scene was written, because it was about the degree that one friend would go to for another friend.”“I don’t get emotional on my own sets, but that was the one time in my entire career I started to tear up behind the camera,” Baker said. “Both of them were so incredibly brave at that moment, and I just hugged them afterward and said, ‘Thank you so much, I know that was very difficult to shoot, but I really feel that we got something special there.’”Baker was right. Not only is it a heartfelt denouement for a movie that at times adopts the tone of a rollicking buddy comedy, but it will do as much to subtly inform audiences of the sensitivities of the transgender experience as anything else we’ve seen in entertainment yet. (x)TANGERINE (2015) dir. Sean Baker -- source link
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