+ Best Florida Movie of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Social Realism Movie of the Year
 |
| A brightly colored, semi-psychedelic poster for Sean Baker's The Florida Project with its lead mother-daughter duo at its center |
At a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, near Walt Disney World, 6 year-old Moonee lives with her mother Halley, whose life is a constant battle to secure next week's rent and providing the basics for the two.
The Florida Project is the 6th theatrical feature from great New-Yorker filmmaker Sean Baker (Tangerine (2015)), who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Bergoch (Starlet (2012)). The Florida Project was an early name for the Orlando, Florida Disney park. The downright psychedelic quality of Florida in general and Orlando in particular are highlighted in the film, which begs the question of how that style affects the mentality of the permanent inhabitants there. - I certainly was not inspired to throw my hard-earned holiday money towards a stay in Florida from the presentation of the state given here.
Watching The Florida Project reminded me of Andrea Arnold's recent, great American Honey (2016), which deals with youths that also reside in shady motels, however not for long, in their hustling journeys and uncertain lives across America. That film is more enjoyable to sit through, simply because it has a lighter, compelling story and an air of youth and survival and unity to it. The Florida Project is an equally accomplished piece of independent filmmaking but a more oppressive and tough watch, because it deals with the mother of a little girl, and the other kids around who grow up in similarly under-stimulating circumstances. - Is American Honey's Star (played soulfully by Sasha Lane) going to end up like Halley here, I wonder? The possibility certainly exists.
Halley is a terrible mother. She doesn't reach the level of Precious' mother Mary, (played chillingly by Mo'Nique back in Lee Daniels' great Precious (2009)), because she is available for her daughter and loves her. But her own lifestyle, - and no-doubt also her personal experiences growing up and becoming a woman, - have left her as a multi-tattooed, blue-haired young woman in the skimpiest outfits and with the trashiest mouth. Her rudeness and physical affront seems to be a self-enforcing bad circle for her, as it makes her unemployable and hard to befriend for just about everyone around her.
The situation is only made more complicated from the fact that Moonee lives with her and naturally takes influence from her mother's behavior.
Baker gets dauntingly realistic, naturalistic performances from his cast of mostly amateurs: Bria Vinaite's (Adultland (2019)) Halley is a provocative character to say the least, but she is somehow also hard to completely reject, and this is a serious feat; she is undeniably a mother, no matter how we feel about what she passes on. Brooklynn Prince (Monsters at Large (2018)) is a true find as Moonee, a true star and a fierce and incredible emotional center for the film. She is helped by two other fine child performances, from Christopher Rivera and Valeria Cotto (Backup Plan (2018, short), who together share some childhood fun, adventure and misbehavior that most will be able to relate to. The film also has a master turn from Willem Dafoe (Fireflies in the Garden (2008)), the cast's only veteran and star actor. Dafoe plays the motel's upstanding manager, who is both a policing and care-giving social presence on the premises, and does it to a T, adding a layer of humanity to the otherwise somewhat grim social realism. One scene in particular, in which Dafoe's alert eye spots an elderly man who has wandered into the children's grounds and goes to handle the man, who has definite ill intentions, is a standout and a riveting scene in The Florida Project, in which one good man protects his turf and the children on it.
This and other scenes in The Florida Project graze the crimes, ugliness and debasement that is inherent in these high-risk living conditions with equal subtlety. This makes the film easier to take, but the images and what could so easily have happened haunt our imaginations as adult audiences nonetheless, which is part of its agenda. But what could be done about a situation such as Halley and Moonee's portrayed here is no easy question.
Baker and The Florida Project deserve high praise for inviting us to experience lives such as theirs so skillfully rendered for a while regardless of this.
Related post:
2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 10.8 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit
[The Florida Project premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival) and runs 111 minutes. Baker and Bergoch interviewed people in the area as research for the screenplay to achieve its authenticity. Shooting took place on location. The many helicopters in the film are in it, because the production could not afford to pay them not to operate by the motel. The film is shot on 35mm film, except for its last scene: SPOILER Moonee running from the motel to the Walt Disney Land was shot without getting permission from Disney with an iPhone 6S Plus. The film opened #27 in 4 theaters to a strong 157k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 229 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5.9 mil. $ (54.6 % of the gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd markets so far have been France with 1.2 mil. $ (11.1 %) and the UK with 807k $ (7.5 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Supporting Actor (Dafoe), lost to Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, won an AFI award, nominated for 2 Independent Spirit Awards, won 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. The Florida Project is certified fresh at 96 % with a 8.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Florida Project?
No comments:
Post a Comment