Sean S. Baker’s latest film is just one small strand of
life’s rich tapestry but a very interesting strand. Its Christmas Eve on Santa Monica Boulevard
in Los Angeles, Sean invites us to meet some very colourful characters who pursue
a living selling sex to men with a certain ‘taste’ in ‘gurls’. We find out that
Sin-Dee Rella (played brilliantly by newcomer Kitana Kiki Rodrigues in her
debut feature film) has just been released from prison on a possession charge,
in fact she was holding for her boyfriend Chester (James Ransone). When she
sets out to renew her acquaintance with her pimp boyfriend her best friend Alexandra
(another newcomer Mya Taylor) tells her that while she has been serving her 28
days he has been unfaithful to her with a white Cisgender [1]female
called Dinah (Mickey O’Hagan). Sin-Dee sets out on a mission to track down the
skinny white whore and face it out with Chester.
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| Alexandra and Sin-Dee chew the fat. |
You will be familiar with road movies well this hilarious
comedy drama is more like a pavement movie. Sin-Dee, with best friend in tow,
leads us through the subcultures of L A where we meet other Transsexual sex
workers and the local Armenian cab driver Razmik (Karren Karagulian) a married
father who prefers sex with Alexandra than with his own wife!
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| Sin-Dee has a few words wth the 'skinny white bitch' |
The genesis of this narrative was borrowed from real life,
as Baker, who not only directed, but co wrote and co produced the story, explained.
“Kiki told us a story she’d heard about a girl, a transgender sex worker, who
found out that her boyfriend was actually sleeping with a Cisgender female. She
was so upset that she wanted to actually find this girl and force a
confrontation between herself, the girl, and the boyfriend. And it was
something that struck me as quite dramatic. It was a launching point for us because
it’s immediate drama that would take us on a journey.[2]”
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| The director with his two main leads. |
This utterly original movie was shot using Apple iPhone 5s
and cast many real life sex workers as extras. Even with its limited release
the film has been well received by critics and cinemagoers alike. In fact this
movie is a real treat and should not be missed. Highly recommended.
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| The brilliant Kitana Kiki Rodrigues who plays Sin-Dee Rella. |
[1] Cisgender (often abbreviated to simply cis)
is a term for people who have a gender identity that
matches the sex that they were assigned at
birth. Cisgender may also be defined as those who have "a gender
identity or perform a gender role society considers appropriate for one's
sex." It is the opposite of the term transgender.
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