One of the greatest surprises of the year was Sean Baker’s wonderful and vibrant “Tangerine,” and while the film is launching an Oscar campaign, the filmmaker has already been bestowed the highest honor of the cinephile world: being invited to peruse the shelves of The Criterion Collection‘s closet.
Bearing that wide grin that is familiar to everyone who has seen one of these videos before, Baker opens up the magical room and warns the cameraman that he has “a weak bladder for this kind of stuff,” but who among us could remain in full control of our faculties when entering that holy place? Fortunately for fans of Baker’s film, the director isn’t just Christmas shopping and upgrading titles from laserdisc; he also lets us in on some of his influences: Mike Leigh’s “Naked” and “Life Is Sweet” are cited as being major influences, specifically as seen in the climactic scene in "Tangerine" at Donut Time. Another interesting tidbit that Baker revealed, while talking about Ken Loach, is that he’s working on a new film that deals with children.
Instead of just reading a recap, you can live vicariously through Baker as he peruses the never-ending shelves of the Criterion closet by watching the video below. “Tangerine” is out now on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.