The Florida Project — A Fresh and Compelling Take on Childhood
THE FLORIDA PROJECT -2017- Dir. Sean Baker//Starring: Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera, Caleb Landry Jones
The Florida Project, directed by Sean Baker, revolves around 6 year old Moonee, played by Brooklynn Prince, and her misfit friends who are all residents of a motel complex in the outskirts of Disney World. The film follows this rag tag group of kids through long, adventure, filled summer days in which they constantly find new ways to make their own fun out of not-so conventional childhood circumstances. Moonee lives with her young single mother, Haley, played by Bria Lafonte.
Moonee is a mischievous kid who is defiant against adult authority at the motel, and serves as a spunky and clever heroine and in some of the more comedic moments of the movie, has some really funny lines sassing out various residents. Hailey, similar to Moonee is also bold and gusty. She acts as more of a friend figure for Moonee and lets her go out and adventure as she pleases. While struggling to find employment, Hailey often brings Moonee out on excursions usually to pedal perfume at nearby resorts — Moonee uses her young charm and streetsmarts to help generate their weekly rent and keep them afloat.
While Moonee is growing up, Hailey is still also going through her own type of coming of age throughout the film as she struggles to take responsibility and enter adulthood. The film portrays the complexity and flaws of a mother-daughter relationship in an honest and fresh light. Although Hailey struggles to assume the role of a responsible parent, she clearly feels a strong love and loyalty towards her.
Willem Dafoe’s character, Bobby, serves as a father figure for both Hailey and Moonee — He is the groundskeeper at the motel, and although he enforces the rules, he is also a sympathetic and caring character towards Hailey and Mooney and when they cause disruption he tends to look after them and serve as a stable adult figure, that grounds both Hailey and Moonee. His performance is incredibly convincing and moving as a compassionate character stuck between doing his job and looking out for the people he cares about.
Willem Dafoe and Brooklynn Prince on set.
The directing and cinematography itself of the Florida Project only heightens its awe-inspiring viewing experience. Shot on 35mm film, Baker creates a dreamy pastel landscape — full of surreal shots of empty fields, and also at the motel itself. Although the film is set in a somewhat desolate area, the landscape is full of wonder and imagination, because it’s through the eyes of a kid. However, underlying its sunny exterior, the movie explores the cycle of poverty that exists in many communities such as the one in the Florida Project. The problems that arise as a result of this are also explored in the movie, but with a sense of innocence and playfulness embedded in it. The film manages to balance serious issues with a heart warming humor, a task only completed by a meaningful attention to detail and the difference a young and gleeful perspective can make for a destitute circumstance.
In the midst of unfornate conditions for a community and its kids, there is a beauty to the innocence Baker captures through the long summer days the kids spend licking ice cream and just running around, without a care in the world. The kids live in such proximity to a kid’s dream destination, yet they make their own fun — Whether it be through finding abandoned houses or looking at cows in a nearby field, they create their own fairytale ending. Along with the incredibly impressive performance of the child actors in the film, it’s hard to not to romanticize the world Baker paints in the Florida Project — The film oozes with nostalgia and longing for the adventure of growing up. Above all, the Florida Project is an in depth look into a group of people and a place, and it does a great job at it.
9.5/10
