Fridays openings II: Life and times in L.A.

We’ve covered the mainstream openings below. Now let’s tackle the Magic Lantern , which opens only a single new movie. But that movie is something special. It’s titled “Tangerine” and may be like nothing you’ve ever seen.

And that’s not just because it was shot entirely on a pair of iPhone 5s.

Set in Los Angeles on a typical Southern California Christmas Eve, amid the flow of traffic mostly along Sunset Boulevard, “Tangerine” follows a transgender prostitute, just out of jail, as she prowls the night in search of her two-timing pimp. Along the way, writer-director Sean Baker introduces us to a cast of characters whose desires and dreams are no less real than any mainstream American.

Here are some of the critical shout-outs.

Ann Hornaday , Washington Post: “As one character observes in ‘Tangerine,’ Los Angeles is ‘a beautifully wrapped lie.’ Baker has created a fitting homage to artifice and the often tawdry, tender realities that lie beneath.”

Christy Lemire : ” ‘Tangerine’ is a great Los Angeles movie and a great indie and a great reminder of the possibilities of creativity during a time when everything is a sequel or a reboot or a comic-book spectacle.”

Manohla Dargis , New York Times: “Little is as it seems in ‘Tangerine,’ a fast, raucously funny comedy about love and other misadventures.”

Caution : Click on the embed below only if you aren’t easily offended.