The Florida Project

The Florida Project. It took me a while to process my thoughts on this film. I'm still trying to figure them out as I type this review out. Let's see how I do.

This is a kind of movie I classify as a "stuff happens movie." There's not much plot, as far as I can tell, but it consists of scenes in an a life. In this case, it's the life of Moonee (Brooklynn Prince), a poor girl in Kissimmee, Florida. She lives in a motel, the Magic Castle, with her mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite), located near Disney World (the title being a codename for the resort). Moonee mainly hangs out with her friends, Scooty (Christopher Rivera) and Jancey (Valeria Coto) and gets into all sorts of adventures. They ask people for change, shut the motel's power for giggles and pull pranks on people. They even set a vacant house on fire!

Bobby Hicks (Willen Dafoe) is the manager of the Magic Castle. He lets impoverished guests stay as long as needed. But Halley's rancid attitude prompts him to put his foot down. He brings in the DCF when Halley's attitude goes too far. So Moonee has to act and...

That's the moment the movie ends!

The minimal plot and its vignettes might be too much at 115 minutes. The bleak tone is an even worse problem. Halley has a believable problem as a poor, single mother, but her attitude makes it hard to sympathize with her. Meanwhile, Moonee's own attitude led to some incidents. But it later becomes clear she doesn't know any better. She sees the world as special even as the adults don't. It makes one want to tell her "don't grow up to be your mother." But what kind of point did the abrupt ending have to make?

The MVP is Dafoe. He's warm, protective and funny as Bobby. In the best vignette, Bobby hushes away a trio of cranes who walked into the driveway of his motel. He also doesn't hesitate to chase a creepy old man away from the kids. He also tries his best to assure Moonee even when Halley's attitude grates on him.

Director/Editor/Co-Writer/Co-Producer Sean Baker, who shot his last film Tangerine on I-Phones, gives cinematography duties to Alexis Zabe. The images exemplify the pastel colors of Moonee's neighborhood motels and the nightlife in Kissimmee. The editing especially works during the vacant house incident. Scooty lights a pillow and sets it in the fireplace and it cuts to them running. We can tell it figuratively and literally went up in smoke. The last scene switches from 35mm film to digital which contributes to its weirdness.

The Florida Project is a film that's sure to throw you off on first viewing. That's what happened to me. But then again, Baker probably intended to challenge a few perceptions of poverty. You'll probably understand these intentions even if the bleakness overwhelms you. What am I to do?