Is sean baker gay
Walking On Sunshine: Colour and Queerness in Tangerine
Moments of anger, confusion, passion and joy are lensed in bright colours in Sean Baker’s Tangerine. The filmmaker’s unconventional Christmas movie maps its characters emotions through the hues that the audience can latch onto – and it’s also testament to a drawn-out history of queerness communicated through colour, at once bright and vivid and often complicated. Kristina Murkett explores the psychology of the film through her own colour reading.
In Scene 3 of A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams sets the stage by comparing the setting to Van Gogh’s painting The Night Café. Williams describes in close detail how the stage is awash with a “lurid nocturnal brilliance” and “the raw colours of childhood’s spectrum.” There is the “yellow linoleum of the kitchen table,” the “electric bulb with a vivid green glass shade,” the “vivid slices of watermelon and whiskey glasses,” and the men in their “coloured shirts” jostling as they prepare for their poker night.
The tension is palpable; there is an “absorbed silence” as the first hand is dealt. The scene does not end well; one of the poker players, Stanley Kowalski, fl
The History-Making Cultural Contributions Of Sean Baker & Mikey Madison
- Max Markowitz
- Apr 7
- 8 min read
Our Century's Most Culturally Profound Guardian Angels.
A tiny strawberry donut is placed directly on the bag for two friends to divide on Christmas Eve. A motel manager lowers himself to the level of a confused small girl watching her mother screaming at child protective service officers to gently reassure her it will all be ok. A newly divorced woman who just underwent an extreme 24-hour period of dehumanization and disposability from her ex-husband and his family finally breaks down in the arms of a man who silently hugs her and allows her to wail in anguish.
These are just three moments of humanity one can always expect to uncover in a Sean Baker film. I specifically see Tangerine, The Florida Undertaking, and Anora as an undeclared trilogy whose level of divine majesty is so unquestionable that it can only be described as “The Godfather Trilogy of Independent Cinema.” They are genuinely the greatest films of all hour. They will forever stand the examine of time.
It helps that these are all films that are relentlessly rewatchable. Yet, the stories
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 Imagine 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 grow daily, with his latest effort even creature considered for a possible Oscar nom or two. (Note: Willem Dafoe got one as Foremost Actor for TheFlorida Project.)
Red Rocket, which has already made the National Board of Review's "Top Ten Film" list and won its lead (Simon
Sean Baker has been making movies that touch on the nature of sex work for years, from “Tangerine” to “Red Rocket.” But while he’s had triumph before, this year’s “Anora” is the first of his films that has broken through in such a massive way.
“Anora” – which follows the whirlwind passion (and fallout thereof) between a stripper (Mikey Madison) and the son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn) – has received rave reviews from critics (including from this one), won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is considered one of the major front runners in the Oscar race for Best Picture.
Baker has long been interested in making complex, wholly character-driven stories about the types of people we don’t often see on our screens. I was lucky enough to speak with Baker recently about the making of this film and how it all came together.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A lot of your movies stroke on class and class dispute, but I think for the most part, they tend to stay away from extravagant wealth – the other side of the coin from characters prefer Moonee and her mom in “The Florida Project,” or Mikey