‘Tangerine’ a joyful girlfriend movie for our modern age

Starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor and Alla Tumanian. Directed by Seean Baker.

Rated R for strong and disturbing sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout and drug use. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 27 minutes

Bottom line: An enchantung film with a witty and efficient script

At one point in “Tangerine,” a tattooed pimp named Chester recuses himself from a dispute among prostitutes arguing outside a doughnut shop by declaring, “This a … girl thing.”

Chester is right. The drama in this enchanting movie belongs to the ladies, specifically to two electric newcomers to the screen, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, in the role of a brassy recent parolee named Sin-Dee, and Mya Taylor, as her elegant best friend and reluctant accomplice, Alexandra.

Both African-American and transgender, Rodriguez and Taylor perform a “Thelma and Louise”-style girlfriend comedy for our modern age, as Sin-Dee, released from prison on Christmas Eve, tears through the strip malls and street corners of Hollywood looking for a cheating lover.

With a witty and efficient script by director Sean Baker and co-writer Chris Bergoch, “Tangerine” peels back the curtain on a fascinating Los Angeles microculture — the world of transgender prostitutes who work the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

The L.A. they inhabit is one rarely seen on the big screen, a low-rent city of doughnut shops, coin-op laundromats and jumped subway turnstiles. The chemistry of the leads and their authentic, crackling dialogue make it a pleasure to tag along for the day.

Sin-Dee is fast-talking, manic and high on either drama, meth or both for most of the film; Alexandra, who carries herself with the grace of an actress from Hollywood’s Golden Era, is a perfect, droll counterpoint, and her slow, nonverbal reactions to Sin-Dee’s antics, or to the cheapness of a john, are captivating.

“Tangerine” takes its title from the movie’s sunny, saturated cinematography, in which an orange candy glow coats the gritty streets. The effect is especially remarkable given that Baker and his director of photography, Radium Cheng, shot “Tangerine” using iPhones with anamorphic adapters. They find beauty in the dingiest locations, including a poignant sex scene set inside a car wash, over the hypnotic sounds of brushes slapping and dryers humming, as soap suds stream down the windshield.

The film’s supporting characters are as vivid and well cast as its leads. Karren Karagulian, a veteran of Baker’s other features including “Starlet” and “Prince of Broadway,” is heartbreaking as an Armenian cab driver named Razmik, whose fares and family seem to be co-conspirators in crazy making.

As Chester, James Ransone, perhaps best known for playing the wigged-out Ziggy on HBO’s “The Wire,” somehow radiates sexy and scuzzy in the same gesture.

When Razmik’s hectoring mother-in-law and Sin-Dee collide late in the film, they’re both wearing showy animal-print blouses. The costuming is a wonderful visual joke and a subtle, affecting way of showing what we all have in common.