Sean baker gay
Auteur for the Underclass
Bria Vinaite and Brooklynn Prince in Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” which opens October 6 at the Angelika and at Lincoln Square. | A24
A PSA used to air on Modern York cable stations showing a youth witnessing domestic abuse and ending with the words, “If this were a movie, you wouldn’t let them see it.” This came back to consciousness while seeing Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” a motion picture essentially told from a poor six-year-old girl’s perspective that grows darker and darker.
Baker is good aware that a child might not understand how much danger her mother is in or how precarious her life is. He also sets “The Florida Project” in a world entire of surface pleasures that mock their characters’ despair even as they provide temporary relief.
“The Florida Project” starts off seeming relatively innocuous, telling the misadventures of young Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her two friends. She lives with her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) in a hotel called the Magic Castle in Kissimmee, Florida. The hotel is managed by Bobby (Willem Dafoe), a relatively benevolent figur
“Tangerine,” Sean Baker’s funky little comedy — shot entirely on an iPhone — is full of dram-ah as motor-mouthed transgender prostitute Sin-dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) finds out from her BFF Alexandra (Mya Taylor) that her boyfriend/girlfriend Chester (James Ransome) has been cheating on her while she’s been in jail. As Sin-dee wanders around Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, trying to discover Chester, Alexandra wants to attention on her performance that late hours. Meanwhile Razmik (Karren Karaguilian), a cab driver, seeks out both ladies for personal reasons. The film, which opens at Ritz Theaters July 24, thrives on its characters’ manic energy, but it is ingratiating because Sin-dee and Alexandra have tremendous heart.
In separate interviews, Baker and Taylor spoke via Skype about making “Tangerine.”
PGN: Sean, you tend to make films about marginalized, struggling and/or disenfranchised characters. Why complete these kinds of stories appeal to you?
SB: I try to stay away from being too self-analytical. In all four of my films, I dealt with subject matter I didn’t perceive about. I think that those were small cultures I was interested in exploring. Each undertaking began a different way and led to what it
Short Takes: Tangerine
It’s Christmas Eve and Sin-Dee is fresh out of lockup, looking to reunite with her fiancé and pimp Chester (James Ransone). Alexandra informs her that Chester has been sleeping with a “fish” (a cis woman), sending Sin-Dee on a furious quest around Los Angeles (without a car!) to find that bitch.
Rodriguez moves and speaks like a firecracker, and although her acting is sometimes shaky, she exudes genuine charisma. That magnetism also pulls Razmik, an Armenian cabbie (Baker regular Karren Karagulian) who has a crush on Sin-Dee, away from his family’s holiday dinner early. Unfortunately, Baker fails to sustain the energy promised by his players, and the multilingual shouting-match finale (which includes Razmik’s mother-in-law) is tiresomely protracted. And while the film’s colors are as electric as the characters’ emotions, the setups and framing are fairly conventional, a missed opportunity to produce aesthetics that mirror the unique perspectives.
If "America is nothing if not about categories," as social critic Hinton Als insists, then writer/director/editor Sean Baker has consistently mined those huddling under the "disenfranchised" heading. The American Dream has often slipped from his characters' grasps, so they seek respite in some sort of bargain-basement Heaven of their own making, at times sated by drugs, sex, doughnuts, Bingo, and a good dash of whimsey.
Baker's cri de coeur: "I'm always looking for authenticity in my films; they are based in realism."
Not surprisingly, his movies -- such as the must -- see Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), and The Florida Project (2017), plus his latest, Red Rocket -- are swathed in a gritty reality, each clearly aided by a cast of pros and non-professionals.
This formula seems to be working. According to IMDB, Baker's output has so far earned him 46 awards and 74 nominations, and those accolades develop daily, with his latest effort even being considered for a possible Oscar nom or two. (Note: Willem Dafoe got one as Best Actor for TheFlorida Project.)
Red Rocket, which has already made the National Board of Review's "Top Ten Film" list and won its advantage (Simon