The Florida Project (2017)

The story of this movie has just no point or purpose at all , it is overrated and does not include any creativity, this type of movies is similar to "lady bird" and I hope that I'd avoid such movies in the future and do not waste my time

Impressive acting...and the only person who looked like they were acting was Willem Dafoe (who still acquitted himself well). I found the camera work mesmerizing and Brooklynn Prince's acting totally stunning (she's the heart of this movie, perhaps in counterpoint to her mother, convincingly played by Bria Vinaite). The director carefully crafted each scene but without the expected histrionics. It's a sweet and innocent story set in a cultural garbage dump. The ending seemed a bit too simplistic...I'd have like to see a bit more resolution even though you know exactly how things are going to turn out. If this movie doesn't make a strong case for fully funding Planned Parenthood then nothing ever ever will.

When this independent film was released to DVD, film critic Mark Kermode was giving it a lot of praise, I only knew bits and pieces of its premise, so I was looking forward to it, directed by Sean Baker (Tangerine). Basically in the Magic Castle, a budget motel in Kissimmee, Florida near Walt Disney World, six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince) lives with her young tattooed single mother Halley (Bria Vinaite). She spends most of her time during the summer unsupervised with her motel friends Scooty (Christopher Rivera) and Dicky (Aiden Malik), playing and causing mischief, scrounging and stealing from tourists, and getting in trouble. The three children are one day caught spitting on a guest's car, Dicky's father (Edward 'Punky' Pagan) restricts him from playing with Moonee and Scotty, his family later relocate to New Orleans, which saddens the others. While the kids are cleaning the car, Moonee meets Jancey (Valeria Cotto), who lives at the Futureland motel next door, she invites her to hang out with them. Bobby (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Willem Dafoe), the manager of Magic Castle, is protective of the children, this includes one incident where an elderly man is acting suspiciously hanging around them, he threatens to call the police if the man returns. Halley is struggling to pay her rent, she tries to sell perfume to many tourists in parking lots, and she asks Scooty's mother, Ashley (Mela Murder), to steal food for them from the diner she works at. But Ashley cuts contact after discovering Moonee, Scooty, and Jancey set fire to an abandoned condominium. To make more money, Halley sets up an online prostitution profile offering her services, closing Moonee in the bathroom when she is with a client. Bobby notices the activity and applies restrictions on unregistered guests in her motel room. When Halley steals a client's Disney resort passes to sell them, the man she stole demands them back; Bobby sees him off but warns Halley that he will evict her if she continues her prostitution. Halley is desperate and approaches Ashley to apologize and ask for money, Ashley mocks her for her prostitution, Halley beats her up in front of Scooty. The next day, Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) arrive to investigate Halley. She cleans up her room and gives away her weed, then takes Moonee to a resort hotel restaurant, charging the meal to a guest's room. When they return to the motel, DCF and the police are waiting to take Moonee into foster care pending investigation. Bobby overhears the commotion, but cannot bring himself to do anything, he just stands outside and smokes. Moonee runs away to find Jancey, they run away together to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Also starring Josie Olivo as Grandma Stacy. Vinaite is great as the just about managing single mother, Prince is impossibly cute and brilliant as the mischievous daughter, and Dafoe is terrific as the kindly motel manager, the theme of childhood innocence and the clash between adult and child worlds are very evocative, it is emotionally intense, but there good-spirited and funny bits as well, a fantastic drama. Very good!

The Florida Project is one of those movies that you just can't seem to look away from. Overall, I am not unhappy that I watched it (although I was initially), but it is not one I will be watching many times over. In an interview Sean Baker talks about the empathy we feel for the mother and I'm sorry to say that I felt none for her because the filmmaker didn't let me. If they had allowed me to meet people in Halley's life that knew her before she ended up like this, it would have humanized her. I felt nothing for the mother (Halley) other than disapproval. Moonee was hard to like throughout the film and the only reason I felt anything for her is purely the fact that she is a child in a situation that you would never want a child to be in. I don't think Baker did a good job directing her performance except for the last sequence.The character I latched onto the most was William Dafoe's character because he was written with such a complexity and played in such a raw way that I was enamored throughout. The only reason this film came up at the Oscars was because of him clearly. I have heard it compared to Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and my instant reaction is to push back on that. Moonlight was able to craft the coming of age tale in a creative and fresh way. Moonlight immersed you in real scenarios of pain and struggle as one of the characters. Meanwhile, The Florida Project made me feel often as a fly on the wall in the scenes I was more of an observer than embodying the character which made me just want to call the police and end the movie. The most interesting concept the film touches on is kids growing up so close to "the happiest place on earth," but never going there and living in quite the opposite. It did a good job of plunging you into the area of the highway most people just pass right by. I love that the ending doesn't wrap up in a nice little bow and I like some of the scenes that explore childhood shenanigans. I don't hate that this film exists, I think it is important that filmmakers explore this style of cinema veritas, but they can't forget that there still needs to be an affective screenplay (something that I heard Baker often deviates from). In my opinion this movie was close to being something great, but instead is just good. Adding some complexity rather than stubbornness to main characters would have helped.