Last month I wrote about British film-maker Mike Leigh creating a “string of perfectly crafted dramas with an uncanny element of verisimilitude” – dramas such as the 1996 Palme d’Or winner Secrets & Lies, which went on to win five Oscar nominations including best picture. It’s no surprise to learn that one of Leigh’s greatest admirers is Sean Baker, the American independent director (born in New Jersey in 1971) whose most recent feature, Anora, similarly scooped the Palme d’Or last May and is now shaping up as an Oscars frontrunner.
Although their film-making styles are distinctly different, Baker and Leigh share a guiding dramatic principal: to portray real people in real situations with which the audience can empathise. Take Baker’s 2015 masterpiece Tangerine, the breakout feature that built upon the festival successes of his Prince of Broadway (2008) and the Independent Spirit awards prize winner Starlet (2012). Shot on modified iPhone 5Ss with prototype widescreen anamorphic lenses, Tangerine captured a magically authentic portrait of life in the streets, burger bars and doughnut joints of Los Angeles.
