Day 41 The Florida Project [2017]
Screenplay Sean
Baker & Chris Bergoch
Director Sean
Baker
Cinematography Alexis
Zabe
Music Lorne
Balfe
Leads Willem Dafoe,
Brooklynn Prince, Christopher Rivera, Valeria Cotto, Bria Vinaite
Production Cre Film, Freestyle Picture
Company, Cinereach, June Pictures
IMDb 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes 96%
This film will definitely have the honour of
going straight into this blog’s hugely anticipated Hall of Film. I loved it. I
hadn’t seen any of Sean Baker’s previous work, but I will certainly be watching
it after seeing this. This film is about a young girl, Moonee (Brooklynn
Prince), and her young mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite), and their life in an
Orlando motel. I think ‘The Florida Project’ is a reference to Disneyland,
either as the name of Disney’s project to create the theme park, or it was what
Disneyland was going to be called. Whatever the reference, the film shows how
close poverty is to one of the embodiments of the American Dream. It is about childhood
dreams, as well as the struggles of a young single mother living in poverty. The
acting is brilliant, maybe the best child acting I’ve ever seen from Brooklynn
Prince. She is incredible to watch and the way Baker films her creates a
nostalgia transporting you to the innocence of youth. Shout out to Zabe for
making such horrible products of Western capitalism (colourful motels,
department stores, housing developments) look like a magical fairyland, a smorgasbord
of pastel colours. Dafoe deserves credit as Bobby, the motel’s manager, and a
father-figure to all the motels’ low-income inhabitants. It’s a wonderfully vibrant,
feel-good film, yet Baker exposes us to the harsh realities of this lifestyle
slowly but surely. I could go on and on and on, especially when I found out
Bria Vinaite basically plays her real self (Baker discovered her on Instagram),
and when I heard that the last scene was shot with a tiny crew on an iPhone
without any sort of permission from Disneyland. It actually reminded me hugely
of Andrea Arnold’s work as a cross between American Honey and her Oscar-winning
short WASP. It’s beautiful and the type of film I aspire to one day be
able to create myself.
Acting 4 / 4
Writing 3.5 / 4
Cinematography 3.5 / 4
Music 3 / 4
HWF rating 4 / 4