Considering how deeply the trans agenda has wormed its way into AMP’s ranks, it was only a matter of time until we did a trans-themed film review. It’s nothing short of a miracle that either of these films exist; “Tangerine” was filmed entirely on an iPhone and “The People’s Joker” nearly got axed during its worldwide premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Despite the odds, trans film is still alive and well from the streets of Los Angeles all the way to the high-rise rooftops of Gotham. Join us on the unhinged, hilarious, and tragic journeys that these fantastic films have to offer.
CONTENT WARNING: transphobia, sexual content, and copious amounts of clownery
Tangerine (2015)
Director Sean Baker’s breakout film “Tangerine” is a Christmas story in a similar way that “Die Hard” is a Christmas story: it welcomes the spirit of the holidays through gratuitous violence and high-stakes drama. Enter Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex worker from Los Angeles that just returned from a month spent in the slammer. She meets up with her friend Alexandra, another trans sex worker, at a local donut shop on Christmas Eve to catch up on what she missed. Then the first domino falls — Sin-Dee learns that her boyfriend Chester’s been cheating on her in her absence. This sets in motion Sin-Dee’s glorious reign of terror through the streets of LA to exact her revenge on Chester and his side piece. Despite Alexandra begging her to give up the hunt and just dump Chester’s sorry ass already, Sin-Dee’s a woman on a mission. They run into several of their friends on the street and tell them what’s happening, uncovering the breadcrumb trail that will lead them to Chester and his new girl.
At this point we’re introduced to another character, Razmik. He’s an Armenian immigrant that works as a taxi driver and we eventually discover that he’s a chaser (i.e. someone who is attracted to trans people and “chases” them in a fetishistic way) when he tries picking up a woman and gets upset once he realizes she doesn’t have a penis. One of the most entertaining things in this film is how transness is treated as the norm since we’re primarily following trans characters and people who are attracted to them for their transness. The “trans deception” trope is far more common in film than I’d prefer, but this was the first time I’d seen someone get upset at a sex worker for NOT being trans and it got a chuckle out of me.
Anyway, Sin-Dee and Alexandra temporarily part ways to follow their own sidequests. While Sin-Dee’s getting closer to tracking down the woman that wronged her, Alexandra’s trying desperately to get people to come to her Christmas show at the club that night. As she passes out dozens of flyers, everyone’s collective disinterest becomes increasingly apparent to her. Alexandra keeps at it, trying not to let it get her down. She gives a flyer to Razmik when she runs into him and he seems like he genuinely wants to go. Alexandra remains hopeful that he’ll come see her for reasons outside of sex, but the jury’s out on whether or not he’ll commit.
Meanwhile, Sin-Dee breaks into a motel room and discovers her target: a white, cisgender girl named Dinah who’s apparently the one that’s been sleeping with Chester. She drags Dinah out by the hair and takes her hostage so they can all have a chat at the donut shop later. As the two girls are on the bus headed to the donut shop, Sin-Dee realizes something — she completely forgot about Alexandra’s show, and now she’s running late. She makes the split-second decision to drag Dinah with her to the club, but once they arrive they realize they’re the only two who showed up. Either way, the show must go on. After a very sweet and funny scene of them all helping Alexandra with her makeup in the bathroom, we get to hear Alexandra sing a few beautiful Christmas ballads to an indifferent crowd. Sin-Dee gives a standing ovation and they all continue to the donut shop afterward.
While this is happening, Razmik decides to abandon his family’s Christmas dinner and see if he can catch the last bit of Alexandra’s show. He leaves despite their outrage and discovers that he missed the whole performance, but he follows the three girls once he learns that Sin-Dee — who he’s apparently a frequent client of — is back on the streets again.
Time for the moment of truth… everyone confronts Chester and we get the most colossal crash out ever. Alexandra and Dinah watch Sin-Dee chew out Chester before Razmik arrives to ask where Sin-Dee’s been for the last month, and then Razmik’s freaking mother-in-law and wife follow him to the donut shop to interrogate him about his affairs. Everyone’s yelling at each other until the owner kicks them all out.
Suddenly, betrayal?! Chester confesses that he slept with Alexandra during Sin-Dee’s time in prison. This hits Sin-Dee pretty hard and she walks off without a word. As Alexandra chases after her and attempts to explain herself, a car full of strangers tosses a cup of piss onto Sin-Dee, and Alexandra comes to the rescue without hesitation.
The very last scene we’re treated to shows Alexandra attempting to clean Sin-Dee up in a laundromat, washing her clothes and wig and making sure she isn’t alone. Sin-Dee feels self-conscious without her wig, so Alexandra gives hers up as a peace offering. The two girls hold hands and the film ends there, demonstrating how their friendship is the only thing strong enough to persist through the crazy-ass lives they lead. All they have is each other, and honestly? That’s really all they need. Keep your friends close and support your local dolls, y’all!
The People’s Joker (2022)
I don’t tend to trust people who think the Joker is relatable, since he’s kind of the poster boy of 15-25 year-old incels who think they’re more damaged than they actually are. But the entire time I was watching Vera Drew’s indie parody “The People’s Joker” (2022), I couldn’t help but admit… she is SO me, guys. She’s so me. For real. Like, you would NOT believe how me she is.
Vera Drew’s multi-media, crowdfunded, queer coming-of-age comedy/debut film was shot in five short days in front of a green screen, and it absolutely feels like it. Yet its lack of bells and whistles gives the film a certain heartfelt charm, and the careful craftsmanship that went into its story and meta humor tells a tale of trans womanhood that strips the experience down to its very core and makes you laugh at how surreally fucked it is. The movie started as a re-edit of “Joker” (2019), but contrary to the bleak, gritty overtones of the psychological thriller now infamous for its controversy in fomenting right-wing misanthropism, “The People’s Joker” is as optimistic as it is painfully honest. It turns long-established characters and backstories on their heads in an entirely new take on the DC universe to speak on what life is like for someone well and truly othered who, instead of crashing out over being bad at comedy and exceedingly lonely, finds a community worth doing stand-up with and standing up for.
The film follows “Joker the Harlequin,” a trans woman from Smallville, Kansas, on her journey from a boy suppressing her depression and gender dysphoria through smiles elicited from prescription Smylex to her queer awakening in Gotham as an aspiring (and terrible) comedienne, following the footsteps of the great jokesmen of discount “SNL” “UCB Live.” After immediately failing out of UCB’s top-of-the-line “hypercube” comedy education program (which is the only way in America to receive a certification to perform comedy legally, punishable by death via Batdrone), she partners with the Penguin to start her own underground comedy club performing anti-comedy — comedy that is intentionally bad and technically isn’t actual comedy, so they can’t be prosecuted. She does drag and starts dating Jason “Mr. J” Todd, a trans man who emotionally abuses her and is also dogshit at comedy, before chemically going from “Joker to Harlequin,” hacking into the city’s Batdrones to give an anti-capitalist, anti-fascist rant, ousting the Batman from his UCB Live guest hosting slot, and… humiliating Lorne Michaels so bad he dies? And then there’s a musical number? And Bob Odenkirk is in there somewhere?
The movie goes off the rails very fast, but Vera Drew has described the movie as “just [her] life,” and honestly? Not only do I see it, I’m baffled how much of MY life feels represented by this movie, too. And I’m sure that’s the point. Like, I’m sure there’s a lot of other trans women with mommy issues and an absent father whose childhoods were riddled with fake smiles, coping via TV, and repressed faggotry in the Midwest before growing up to be overly-medicated, mentally ill, prone to substance abuse, interested in a career in TV/comedy, emotionally manipulated by a trans guy at the start of their transitions, and a family disgrace who fucks a clown boy. Like, it’s not just me. Probably.
Okay, look, maybe there are a couple details that are just oddly similar between Vera Drew’s Joker and me, and admittedly I’ve never been chased by Batman in an estrogen factory before learning he’s secretly a chaser who grooms transmascs when he’s not on trashy dating shows exclusive to Queebso entertainment, but the fact that this movie speaks to the trans experience in a way that rivals “I Saw the TV Glow” and… honestly not much else… remains. There’s a healthy mix of clichés like Joker asking her mother if she was “born in the wrong body” alongside insights into the more specific details of being trans, such as a conversation where Mr. J talks about cis gay men viewing him as a “gay guy with an asterisk,” speaking to the largely undiscussed issue of subtle ostracization within the queer community (even as a majority of others in the community are supportive and accepting). And there’s nothing more harrowing than Joker’s deadname being censored throughout the entirety of the film until someone she trusts uses it specifically to hurt her. I could feel my heart crumple under the weight of that moment, my lungs refill after being clogged by the thickness of the air. No one deserves to be deliberately stripped of their personhood and identity by someone who claims to love them… but it’s something we all go through at some point, and it’s as important to see represented as it is painful to watch.
I’m also a fan of how “anti-comedy” is presented as a running theme of the movie, largely as a response countering the narratives reinforced by mainstream entertainment reflective of patriarchal cishet culture. The low-budget production makes it feel intentionally “bad,” all while the humor is sharp and legitimately funny. Unserious spins on dramatic Batman moments weave between bits like “Suicide Cop,” a TV show about a cop who kills himself every episode over small deviations from cisheteronormativity, to create a movie-watching experience that is insightful through its satire and use of parody.
Overall, I consider “The People’s Joker” to be a must-watch for trans people and those close to us, as well as anyone looking for a good parody on the Batman franchise, and it’s one of my favorite films to date. Go watch it. Go watch it again. It’s that good.
