Writers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
DOP: Alexis Sabe
Cast: Brooklyn Prince, Willem Dafoe, Bria Vinaite
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.
Films with kids as protagonists are very hard to get right. It is a delicate balance between coming across as too cute or too brat like. My favourite Malayalam kids film is 'Manu Uncle' and it works because the balance is right and the grown up characters in it behaves around kids in a realistic manner, except for a few cartoonish characters. It is a film which works really well for grownups as well.
Florida Project is another film which deals with poverty in USA and can also be classed into post-Subprime crisis genre. Many have lost their homes and are staying in motels on an extended basis with whole families staying in single rooms. Willem Dafoe plays the kind manager of one such motel and it was quite strange to see him play a normal sort of character. Moonee stays with her mum, a white thrash character struggling to make ends meet, in his motel. Her financial situation deteriorates over the course of the summer and this is not portrayed in a melodramatic manner but rather in a matter of fact manner with plenty of humour. What happens at the end is what you're willing to happen as it is the best for all concerned but it still left me quite teary eyed.
Sean Baker got his break with 'Tangerine' which was shot entirely using an i-phone. I only managed to sit through 5 minutes of it. He has got a mixture of experienced and non-experienced actors for this film and quite a bit of street-casting. Juxtaposition of American poverty against the Disney world is something that the director is going for. It took me some time to realise the proximity of Disney World in the film but I guess it was obvious with the funny looking shops and constant takeoffs and landings of helicopters. Kids in the film are just great but their energy levels throughout the film are a tad high. Brooklyn Prince just steals the show. Bria Vinaite, who was cast based on her Instagram profile, is also great as the thoroughly unlikeable single mother.
PS: You can also see the phenomenon of motel owning Patels in the film.
Rating: 4.25/5
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