The Florida Project (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.

My Take – As grow ups while we shuffle through our responsibilities, time to time we ponder upon our childhood days when all you had to worry about was going to school, passing in the test and getting your homework done, the rest was not very important, as it was an innocent phase where we begin to understand what the world is all about and how it functions, all while living in our middle class yet comfortable apartments. But imagine what your life would have been like if you had lived in a low class motel instead, which incidentally enough was quite close to Disney World, a dream of every child out there, and you know your parents couldn’t afford to take you there. Here, director Sean Baker uses his creative force to delivers one of the finest films ever on childhood, while showing us the fringes of society we don’t typically see on screen. As seen in his previous ventures, director Sean Baker never ceases to portray the messed up realism that is hidden within our world, as this film being one of the very rare films that pay attention to the lower class in modern America and captures it in the most purest and colorful of ways, albeit being a truly natural, realistic, heartbreaking, depressing and absorbing portrait. Honestly, before I sat down and started to watch this film, i wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I figured it would be some Art project that fell short in what is was trying to accomplish, surprisingly that was not the case, as the film utilizes a charming and emotional script to convey an experience you won’t soon forget. Set over one summer, the story follows Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince), a ruthlessly mischievous, foul-mouthed yet adventurous 6-year old, who along with her young tattooed mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) lives in a budget motel named the Magic Castle outside Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

These motels are supposed to be temporary residences for tourists but Bobby (Willem Dafoe), the motel manager makes an exception for people like Halley and Moonee because otherwise they would have nowhere else to go. While Moonee may not have a school to go to or a family to support her needs, but that doesn’t stop her from being fun, as she finds her joy in spending time with her mother or creating a ruckus with her ragtag playmates (who also live the same life as hers) or just by bullying Bobby. Moonee makes the most of what she has & reminds us how childhood is what we make out of them. As Moonee spends time with her friends on their magical adventures of childhood, Halley seems to have issues of her own, to find ways to pay rent at the end of every week. In the shadow of Disney World we are given a realistic view into what tourism does to a community. It’s hard to say much more without giving away key plot points. Standouts include the ominous tension between the child and adult worlds and the emotional intensity of the final act that would have resonated even more if having the very ending scene in keeping with the rest of the film. The narrative for the film is a series of many small scenes – each telling their own little story while building up to a very powerful dramatic conclusion, while a few scenes could have been cut, the film succeeds in its overall purpose, of providing us a joyous good time. We don’t get a lot of films about struggling families who find it hard to get by, definitely not the typical Hollywood character story. Subtly going back and forth between the perspectives of the child and adult characters, the film has, at times, an almost magical realist vibe, though nothing remotely supernatural or surreal transpires. Indeed, this is a film steeped in harsh reality, but also one that captures the almost mystical sense of discovering life on the part of the children and sometimes, momentarily at least, even the adults. The first hour was uproariously funny, before becoming a deep and poignant study of the millions of lives of Americans just barely surviving day to day. Yes, despite the nothingness in the surroundings, the film uses humor, for the most part, to tell its story. We watch the children go through the same old routine of life, but it’s shown with innocent humor & a sense of immovable circumstances. Many viewers will complain that the film has no real plot, but that’s the point of the narrative as the film details the day to day life of the residents of the motel. Right away director Sean Baker throws us into the daily mischief that Moonee and her friends, Dickie (Aiden Malik) and Scooty (Christopher Rivera), get into like spitting on cars, begging for food at a local diner that Scooty’s mother, Ashley, works at in order to help Moonee and Halley eat each day, enjoying ice cream and running about pestering the motel residents; especially Bobby and any tourists that happen to stop by. We also get to watch Moonee and her mother perform illegal sales of perfumes (procured legally from a resale shop) at local country clubs and the allusion to Halley performing other illegal activities to support herself and her little daughter which are revealed at the film’s end. Filmmaker Baker & Chris Bergoch‘s Screenplay gives us a harsh look into the poverty of everyday people particularly when the film focuses on Moonee and Halley’s exploits. With only a mile or so away thousands of children their age get escorted through a wondrous make-believe world filled with Mickey and Minnie, the Frozen characters, and other fantasy archetypes like Cinderella and Snow White, yet little Moonie and her friends make their own fun out of what their circumstances afford them.

There is no blatant political statement being made, as these are folks living their lives as best they are able within the confines of their situations as the police and Child Protective Services are always hovering as a reminder that the next mistake could significantly alter lives. I found this film to be thrilling, experimental, daring in how it doesn’t lie about these people, which may be all we can ask for, and it’s directed and performed with total confidence. Director Baker is also a master of color use and the blending of abrupt framed images with the handhelds in close proximity within motel rooms and personal interactions and the grungy look to the film (almost as if it was a homemade feature) really sucked me into this film. The only fault which may seem more like a nitpick is that, as the film revolves around characters hanging out at a hotel, it can become tiresome at nearly two hours, and I did feel the length of the film when watching, but upon reflection, I feel that was needed. The performances given in this film rival the most refined performances from the most well-trained actors, as with an exception of Willem Dafoe, the film is filled with either non- actors or unknowns. Willem Dafoe, an actor par excellence, delivers a career-best turn as Bobby, the Motel’s Manager/Father to all his residents. In a rare normal role, he makes the most of it as Bobby, the motel’s manager, who is also a father figure, mediator of disputes, bill collector, and protector of damaged souls and his empathizing connection with Moonee, is the film’s emotional core. In subtle ways, he shows his inner conflict: he is rightly annoyed by the worst behaviors of the residents but he can’t help but have a soft spot for them, and he even occasionally falls into the role of surrogate father to the various children especially in a gripping scene when a stranger approaches the kids when they’re playing. Dafoe executes this role with incredible precision and I agree with critics who say it is one of the best performances of his career and definitely deserves the Oscar nomination he has received this year. Bria Vinaite is also impressive especially considering this is her acting debut and that she was discovered on Instagram by director Baker. Her character carries the film, and within her we see the cruelty of the outside world seep into the innocence Moonee embodies. Within Halley, we see the hypocrisy of government agencies who think they can do a better job at caring for a child than a mother can. Her character brings to light the conflict between adulthood with responsibility and the hanging on to adolescence with a carefree attitude that many adults miss and desperately wish to retrieve. Love or hate her character, she is loudly unapologetic and rebellious and just wonderfully portrayed. It’s really easy to hate Halley for the terrible ways she treats people especially a neighbor who is also a single mother. But there are scenes that show her trying as much as possible to give her daughter as good a life as she can despite very limiting circumstances. Brooklyn Kimberly Prince steals every scene she is in. Here, she brings Moonee to life with right mix of innocence & brashness, as she is deliberately the total opposite of ‘sugar and spice and everything nice’. Her strong work easily recalls other great recent child performances. In supporting roles, Mela Murder, Aiden Malik, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera are remarkable. Caleb Landry Jones is alright in a small role. On the whole, ‘The Florida Project’ is a realistic, beautiful, poignant film which gives us a heartfelt portrayal of childhood.