Florida Project
Pro: Like a documentary on a real and really ignored way of life.
Con: Not enough Bobby (William Dafoe)
I greatly enjoy movies that focus on niche groups, specific communities, and unique lifestyles. Director Sean Baker is one of the best in this subgenre. He investigates overlooked subcultures. Watching his films provides a brief glimpse into very real lives. There is very little plot—beginning, middle, and end. The point of the movie is to see a way of life that most people don’t consider. It is just a glimpse.
The Florida Project is his best. I have recommended it as one of the most absorbing and unique movies I have seen in years. It doesn’t feel like a movie. You are just hanging out with the characters for a summer. And along the way, you are enjoying the summer, cringing, crying, and so much more.
Six-year-old Moonee (Brooklyn Prince) and her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) are homeless. They are surviving poverty by “temporarily / permanently” living in the Magic Castle—a rundown motel near Walt Disney World. Through loophole rent schedules, TANF benefits, and other assistance Halley maintains a fluctuating residence at the motel. There is an entire community of people doing the same at the Magic Castle and similar motels in the area. They survive under the watchful and kind guidance of the motel manager Bobby (William Dafoe). Growing up this way herself and now raising her daughter, Halley makes her money as an exotic dancer, scamming tourists, and eventually prostituting herself. It is a very depressing way to live. But the film takes an interesting approach by focusing on the kids. Moonee and her friends.
The film has often been compared to the old Our Gang show—the original Little Rascals—that focused on the innocent and fun child perspective of poverty during the great depression and just let kids be kids. And that is what the films do well. The kids are just being kids. There is no witty dialogue or unrealistic maturity like you see in most current kid’s movies that try to make them into young adults. They are just wild kids—playing hide n’ seek, stealing ice cream, getting in the way, and watching TV. You see the wonder of being a kid. They are free to explore and make their fun with the summer.
Everyone feels natural. Kids and adults. I watched some behind-the-scenes B-roll and it was interesting to see how much Sean Baker just let the camera go. He does some silent-movie directing, calling out small notes to the kids, but everyone is just being themselves for the most part. The film is real in that it was shot in a working motel full of people that the characters are based on. That helps everything feel more authentic.
Moonee and her friends don’t see anything wrong with their way of life. It is only in the fringes of the frame or dialogue that we learn everything I described in their situation. Most of the difficult conversations are in the background or muffled. When Halley is scamming tourists, the camera is low on Moonee with the adults-only being shown below the waist.
That does not mean the film sugarcoats things. There is a consistent somber tone underlying everything. You are always aware that this is a very sad way for a kid to grow up—just outside the happiest place on earth.
In the grim setting, William Dafoe shines as Bobby. You love him from the start. He is just doing everything he can to help. He is trying to run the motel, but more so be a father to Moonee, Halley, and pretty much everyone in the motel. He genuinely cares and wants them to do better. One of the best/worst scenes involves a pervert. There is a random old man who notices that the kids are playing, unattended as they always are, and tries to lure one of them from the group. The only person who notices this is Bobby, who is busy painting the building. He does not alarm the kids but gets the man away with the passive-aggressive promise of a soda. Far from the kids, he makes the man buy a soda. There is a tense and subtle exchange as Bobby is simmering, with the sound of the kids playing in the background. And he explodes, steals the man’s ID to get his name, threatens him, and kicks the man out.
There are a few surprisingly violent scenes. But the violence—like some fighting—is always blurred in the shot with the child—even with their back to the camera—in focus. The most disturbing scenes involve Halley prostituting herself while she keeps Moonee in the bathroom with the door closed and loud music. Again the camera focuses on Moonee. There are long takes of her playing with very little direction. Like most scenes, you can tell that Brooklyn Prince is just doing whatever comes to mind. Even when a man opens the door, we stay with Moonee and everything happens off-screen. These scenes are a good example of kids in trauma. They showcase trauma from a child’s perspective. It maintains innocence but shows the cracks and disturbances that have an effect.
My favorite scene is the ending—so spoilers. Since Halley has been prostituting herself out of the motel she is going to get kicked out and Moonee is going to be taken away. Moonee’s innocence is shattered. More than ever the scene focuses on the adults in a very brutal argument. Child Services is there to take Moonee away. Halley is livid. Bobby is once again trying to shield Moonee. But when the agents finally try to escort Moonee to the car, she runs. She runs to her friend's room in another motel and starts crying. It is too real of a cry! One of the most genuine cries in any movie. The wonderful filter is gone. Moonee is just lost and scared and about to lose her mother. The film then jolts. The sound is muted below the music. The action is sped up. The two girls run away from the motel, across town, into Disney World, and disappear into the real magic castle. There is an element of magical realism here. It is unclear if they ran away. Unlikely that they got that far and more plausible that it is only their imagination masking over the horrible reality. But that just fits with the entire structure of the movie. The kids have been innocent or have ignored the harsh aspects of their lives and then when reality finally got too real, they had to imagine another world.
