THE FLORIDA PROJECT
US, 2017, 111 minutes, Colour.
William Dafoe, Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Christopher Rivera, Valeria Cotto, Mela Murder.
Directed by Sean Baker.
Writer-director Sean Baker has a solid art-house and reputation as the maker of small slices of life, somewhat on the seedy side of life, Starlet, Tangerine (which was actually made with his smart phone).
This is a much more ambitious film, going down to Florida, going to Orlando, the city of Disneyworld, but actually staying on its outskirts, a kind of self-contained enclave, and giving us a portrait of a group of characters who live there, especially three young children.
The film has been listed for awards. It has received an amount of critical praise. But, not everybody has been satisfied, many people finding it too much.
For this reviewer, there was much to admire in the film – though the experience of sitting there and watching was something of an endurance.
What is it about the film that divides audiences? For those who praise it, they see it is almost a docudrama of poor people, especially single mothers, a lot of children running rather wild, nothing to do during the summer holiday except be cheeky and vandalise. The challenge is, especially for those who find it an endurance, is to ask about sympathy for the characters, their way of life, to ask how much they are trapped in this way of life and do not want to get out of it – or do not know how to get out of it. Given some of the adults, especially Halley (Bria Venaite), who embodies the single mother, self-centred yet loving her daughter, angry and resentful in herself, relying on money by prostitution, yet afraid that everything will go to pieces if she is arrested again, this is important.. So, how much sympathy? How much concern? How much compassion for those who are trapped in a life that most of the audiences find repellent or don’t approve of?
But, it is the children who are the life of the Florida Project, slum projects or a social welfare project, or both? Brooklynn Prince is Moonee, six years old, no idea of discipline, no idea of control except of controlling her two friends, Scootie and Jancey, and controlling her mother. It is an extraordinary performance, a little girl portraying relentless wilfulness, cheekiness, some spitefulness, some malicious vandalism. The question is: will she grow up to be Halley? Or the reverse of the question: was Halley like Moonee when she was young?
Presiding over all of this, trying to use to some control but not always succeeding, is Bob, Willem Dafoe, the manager of the motel, always on the move with umpteen repairs, the owner checking out and writing more rules for the residents, intervening in the disputes, the object of insult by Halley, trying to do his best with the kids.
The film is inhabited by trailer park types but who live in the massive motels, the main one rather garish painted in primary mauve. And then there are the gift shops associated with Disney World, a large restaurant in the shape of half an orange, The Big Orange, a gift shop with a large Gandalf painted on the front, and loads and loads of hoardings with kitschy advertising.
It is true to say that the audience is immersed in this world of the Florida Project – an opportunity to see and to feel, perhaps, how some of the other half try to live. And to ask whether prison will rehabilitate Halley? Whether the intervention of social care authorities will do any good for Moonee?
1. A slice of American life? Lives of the poor, welfare lives?
2. The director, his skill in making films of slices of life? Location photography?
3. Orlando, outside Disneyland, the girl’s running to it at the end? The streets, the motels and their colour, mauve? The shopping centre, gaudy, the Big Orange, the Gift Shop with Gandalf? Takeaway centres? The hoardings with their advertising? The musical score?
4. The title, the motels as projects for welfare? The project for change?
5. The cast, the performances by the children, their credibility? The adults, bold, Halley, Ashley? Believable?
6. Audience reaction to these characters, the situations, behaviour? Sympathy or not? Social concern and? Families, psychologies, single parents, mothers, the effect on the children, the children to grow up like their parents? The adults and their similar past? Issues of discipline and control? The role of the authorities?
7. The film and the screenplay, many snippets, not always completed, the effect of these glimpses, portrait of the situation of the characters?
8. The focus on Moonee, aged six, the effectiveness of the little girl as an actress? With her friend, Scootie, the underpass, going to the motel, spitting on the car, the grandmother complaining, going to Halley, Jancey, becoming a friend and playing with the others? Cleaning the car? The bonds?
9. Halley, her age, as a mother, love for her child, yet no idea of discipline except the child doing what she commanded? Her blue hair, her clothes, skimpy, the range of tattoos, the apartment, the contents, tidiness or not, meals, the food and takeaway? Dependent on food welfare and deliveries? Ashley giving the food packages from the diner? Prostitution, her clients? Bob, manager, her arguments with him? Not being permanent and therefore having to move to a motel, her causing all kinds of uproar and the motel, not wanted? The moves to different apartments? Getting the perfumes, selling the perfumes, with Moonee present, and her soliciting? Her fear of being arrested again? The surliness? The fire, going to see it? Ashley’s reaction, the silence between the two, going to the diner, ordering the amount of food, kicking it away after leaving? The fight with Ashley and her assault? The social welfare authorities, coming, the reaction? Her future?
10. Bob, the manager, the boss of the motels and the rules, fixing things, painting? Office, the repairs, the washing machines, with the young man helping him? The blackout? The pool and the woman tanning herself, his chatting with her? With Halle, the rules, Moonee’s behaviour? With the visitors and the honeymooners dissatisfied with the motel? The deal with the kids? Trying to get Halley into the alternate motel and her being ousted? With the childcare authorities?
11. Moonee, her friendship with Scootie, the underpass, their talking, being cheeky, the summer holidays, no bounds or boundaries in her life, the spitting on the car, having to clean it, always involved in mischief, insolent and ruthless? With her mother? Jancey as a friend? Their hiding in the office? Her mother selling the perfume? Her mother, the food, the setting of the fire? The change of friendship with Scootie? The authorities, going to Jancey, her weeping, their walking towards Disneyland?
12. Scootie, sharing with him, setting the fire? Jancey and her friendship? Scootoe and his mother, the reaction after the fire, his longing to his mother, her anger, no more food for Moonee and Halley? The buildup to the confrontation?
13. The locals, the men in the prostitution, Halley robbing the man and his coming back, threatening the police?
14. The range of shops, life around the shops, the children begging money for ice cream?
15. The social background, the visitors to Disneyland, the helicopters flying, the cars, the roads passing by the enclave? The physical presence of the motels, the room, the mauve?
16. The arrival of the authorities, having to deal with the little girl, Moonee’s, running away? Halley as recalcitrant?
17. How much a film of hope? Social despair?
