“Tangerine,” Film Society of Lincoln Center, opens July 10Sean Baker’s zigzagging Los Angeles street odyssey arrives with a ton of hype surrounding it following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Typically, the chatter around a movie like this is stronger than what’s on screen, but “Tangerine” is surprisingly unconventional. Bombastic and candy-colored, taking advantage of the still-unglamorous sprawl of La-La Land, the movie was remarkably filmed on an iPhone 5S. This method allows for a dexterity of movement, with the camera weaving in and out of scenes as if recorded by a passing bystander.“Tangerine” also boats a largely transgender cast, including its two main characters, Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor), street workers who pound the pavement in clacking stilettos in search of the former’s pimp and boyfriend (James Ransone), who is rumored to have cheated on his girlfriend while she was briefly locked up. If the film occasionally falters when a third character, an Armenian taxi driver (Karren Karagulian), gets involved in the search, its tone, which oscillates from floor-rattling intensity (courtesy of a persistent and comical trap music score) to fairy-tale sweetness, is sturdy enough to prop it up.Baker will also be screening his two previous films, “Prince of Broadway” (2008) and “Starlet” (2012), on Thursday, July 9.“Fresh Dressed,” City Cinemas Village East, through July 9Sacha Jenkins’s historical interrogation of street fashion, from the earliest, pre-hip-hop days of gang-affiliated denim vests to the embrace of brand names and the eventual corporate takeover, represents what Puff Daddy, at one point in the documentary, calls a narrative “from the block to the boardroom.”But this isn’t necessarily a success story. The film has a fondness for figures such as Dapper Dan, the innovative tailor from Harlem whose custom and extravagant re-designs of name brands — Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton — made him infamous before the fashion houses caught wind of what he was doing and litigated him out of his storefront workshop. And when Jenkis turns his lens to Karl Kani, Puff Daddy, and others who helped push hip-hop fashion off the sidewalks and onto the runway, creating a multi-billion dollar market in the process, there is the sense that, in striving to be part of the mainstream, street fashion lost some of its essence.But there is hope, the film promises. The latest brand of street designers, influenced both by custom tailored street designs as well as the world of (white) high fashion, are taking their looks to places that would have been unacceptable years ago.“The Last Detail,” Film Society of Lincoln Center, July 10With the Amy Schumer-starring “Trainwreck” opening next week, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is hosting a retrospective dedicated to the work of director Judd Apatow. But since all his movies are widely popular, and most people can easily find them on streaming services, none of his films are featured in this week’s column.Instead, you should go see Hal Ashby’s “The Last Detail,” one of the influential films Apatow picked to play in the series alongside his own work. The film stars Jack Nicholson as an officer assigned to escort a young solider to a Naval prison. In between, he and another officer along for the trip decide to show the soon-to-be-locked-up young man a good time before he has to sit behind bars.“What Happened Miss Simone?” IFC Center, ongoingThis documentary about the singer Nina Simone is also on Netflix, but why would you choose to sit on your couch when you can see this film in a movie theater? It’s worth it for all the archival footage of Simone, including a stunning performance at the Manteaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1976. For more, read ARTINFO’s review here.“Stray Dog,” Film Society of Lincoln Center, ongoingDebra Granik’s documentary about Ron “Stray Dog” Hall, a biker and Vietnam veteran, is extraordinary precisely for what it’s not — a look at the ugly side of motorcycle culture, the kind of machismo-opera portrayed by television garbage like “Sons of Anarchy.” In “Stray Dog,” the characters appear the same, but when we peer inside we see something different. Here is a human being who defies all expectations of what we, from the outside, expect him to be. Haunted by demons, conflicted by the war he participated in and the ones that are currently happening, he acts as the de-facto den mother over a group of men who are drawn to biker culture for what it provides: a strong sense of community among people whose own communities are eroding before their eyes. For more, read ARTINFO’s interview with Debra Granik about the film here.
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