Do You Hear What I Hear?

 

Sean Baker's Tangerine from 2015 is a fast-paced, Christmas themed comedy that gives viewers a taste of what life is like for Black, transgender prostitutes in West Hollywood. In particular, the sounds in the film help us empathize with the protagonists and make us feel like we're in the middle of the action alongside them instead of looking in on them as outsiders.

When Sin Dee first gets out of jail, she meets up with her friend Alexandra at Donut Time to celebrate, and the scene's witty dialogue and ambient noise around them helps us empathize with these women we only just met. With no other sounds like music to distract us or tell us how to feel in the moment, we pay closer attention to what Sin Dee and Alexandra are actually discussing. The audible hum of traffic outside the shop solidifies our place in the scene right beside them; we hear exactly what they hear. Upon finding out about the girl her fiancé Chester had been cheating with, Sin Dee storms out onto the street and uptempo electronic music starts playing complete with gun sound effects, showing that she is not messing around. The music combined with the shots of her strutting along the street align us with Sin Dee and her new mission to find Chester.

Towards the end of the film, each of the main characters come together, incidentally at Donut Time, and all hell breaks loose. Razmik, one of Alexandra's regular clients, shows up to see her, but his wife who just found out about his business with her and other trans prostitutes enters with their toddler. Meanwhile, his mother-in-law barged in earlier as Sin Dee, Chester, and Dinah were loudly arguing. For the majority of the scene, we only hear the dialogue and the ambient noise as well as the baby crying, which heightens the already tense mood. As Razmik and his family argue in Armenian, Sin Dee, Chester, and Dinah occasionally interject in English, and the language difference really drives home how no one's on the same page in this moment. Once Razmik leaves with the baby, we hear fast percussion music which signals a change in the action, similar to the scene when Sin Dee leaves Donut Time to look for Chester in the beginning.

The sounds of Tangerine immerse us in the world of the characters whether they're on the street, on public transport, or at Donut Time. Through dialogue, music, and ambient noise, we get to know Sin Dee and Alexandra as well as Razmik and the others, and these noises get us truly invested in their story.