The Florida Project

The Florida Project is based on the conflict between children’s perspective and that of adults, between two completely different worlds existing in parallel. Baker employed this conflict as the guiding element of the film’s narrative. The permeation of “adult” problems into the guileless reality of childhood creates dramatic tension, advances the plot and rhythmises the narrative. The micro-stories of adults mostly lie at the edge of interest, which corresponds to the dominant children’s point of view. However, we are sufficiently familiar with the adults’ problems to comprehend the characters’ motivations and the plot twists. ___ The stylisation of the picture also corresponds to the children’s point of view. Realistic scenes, in which the camerawork mimics the low-placed children’s view of the world in an effort to keep pace with the young actors, are interspersed with carefully composed static shots that with their colours are reminiscent of pop art. Bold colours, signs such as “Magic Castle”, “Futureland” and “Seven Dwarfs Ln.” and unusual locations transform the devastated surroundings of the amusement park into one big playground, as it is also perceived and used by the children, who have created their own magical world, which is not sustainable in the long run, and the larger the cracks that appear in it, the less the adults are able to keep their kids under the illusion that everything is going to be okay. ___ The energetic style of the film contrasts with the hopelessness of the situation in which the young female protagonist is trapped with her mother. Due to the intrusions of social drama into the magical children’s adventure, however, the film manages to avoid sentimentality, falseness and romanticisation of the characters’ misery. After all, that is not what Baker intended the film’s central them to be. He is rather particularly interested in the ability to adapt to a certain environment and the related building of one’s own magic kingdom as a means of self-preservation. ___ Instead of creating artificial dramas, Baker allows events to flow seemingly freely. However, minor misunderstandings are wrapped up in other events, separate episodes are composed in a layered form, and the story, adhering to the traditional three-act structure despite the seeming dramaturgical laxity, speeds inexorably toward the cathartic climax. The great final drama derives from a number of smaller conflicts that the narrative at least touched on previously. ___ The Florida Project manages to point out problems that need to be solved without overstating them or sugar-coating them with the small joys of life, or misusing them for emotional blackmail. This is a pleasantly matter-of-fact, compassionate and sincere approach, captivatingly magical and realistic, which, in addition to sorrow, also offers joy and arouses the desire to start doing something. 90% (28/03/2018)

This is exactly the kind of movie I usually go for – a feel-good movie and a classic indie drama. So, based on the reception of The Florida Project, my expectations were high. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t my thing. Although I agree with the high number of positive reviews, watching it was mind-numbing for me. As a de facto documentary about stereotypical white trash, it works perfectly, but apart from the character of Willem Dafoe, there is not a single at least partially likable character that I could relate to, quite the contrary. The behavior of the central group of three screaming kids was driving me nuts, and the main character of the mother - a typical representative of the American white trash mentality "I am a total wreck, an incompetent loser, absolutely useless to society and it’s somebody else’s fault, not mine" – just plain irritated me. There might have been those who experienced some sort of a powerful catharsis after the ending, but personally, I only experienced the feeling of being pissed off. I rarely look at my watch to see how much time is left until the end - in this case, after a while, it was every 5 minutes. (27/01/2019)

Depicting the problems and joys of ordinary Floridians from a purple apartment building/motel somewhere around Orlando, The Florida Project is a big step forward from Tangerine thanks to the fantastic perception of life through the eyes of children. It is not just about the playfulness that they bring into this portrait of the uneasy existence of socially disadvantaged adults, but above all the director’s ability to perceive the colorful poetics of the lives of two emotionally different worlds in such a precise and coordinated way. There are a lot of award-worthy performances here: the great Willem Dafoe as a thoughtful building manager, the surprising non-actress Bria Vinaite as a troubled mother, and especially little Brooklynn Prince as the lead child character! Her tears are the culmination of the film and the most powerful moment of child acting in a long while (since Shyamalan’s Osment?). The end should be seen as a metaphor – holiday-like Florida with its beautiful beaches and amusement parks is a paradise for American children. The Florida Project is a unique and beautifully made film with a big, wildly beating heart. I considered adding a fifth star. [Cannes] (25/05/2017)

An excellent exploration of the lives of children whose parents are not exactly the most exemplary or affluent. Moonee, the little street urchin, was often up to mischief, but who could blame her when her mother lacked many virtues and deserved a good scolding herself. I enjoyed the colorfulness of the visuals and the energy of the narrative. An excellent match for those children's mischief. However, how Brooklynn Prince acted in the title role literally took my breath away. I ate it up, especially when she struck such a heartfelt melancholic note at the end. Throughout the film, I went through a range of feelings, from the universally negative to the joyful, and I kept wondering how this was all going to end. The finale itself, however, pleasantly surprised and moved me at the same time. I would also like to mention Willem Dafoe, who played the character of the morose caretaker Bobby with protective instincts to perfection. It gave the whole story a stamp of genuine humanity. (80%) (08/08/2020)

It’s been few days after the screening and I'm still thinking about this film. It's an incredibly "colorful" film, not only because of the camera, which captures the garishly colored architecture on the suburbs of Florida with gusto, but also in terms of feeling. An emotional roller-coaster ride with an almost infectious energy that mixes endless sadness with the happiness and naivety of young children and their parents from the margins of society, who – even though their lives are awful – can rejoice in the little things. On the one hand, it's a pretty depressing experience (you wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that mom), but it always makes up for it with the guileless child's view of the world, who doesn't worry about anything and enjoys what little life brings. The film doesn't make you feel depressed about your messed-up life, but rather caresses you, thanks to Willem Dafoe, who is a tough hotel manager, but a fair, straight man with protective instincts (brilliant scene with the paedophile!), to whom you would entrust your children with a calm heart, or go out for a beer with. His performance is so brilliant that his character doesn't devolve into a caricature of his goodness, but you actually believe that such people exist among us. American indie films are often cursed with a sense of authenticity, but you can always sort of see that they're just playing at it. Not this one, though, this one is authentic to the bone. This is the true portrait of people on the fringes of American society, who are called "white trash", this is the "real America", where Disneyland is shown off with its own opulence, so that only two streets away, the losers live in a cheap hotel, but they don't complain about their fate. The character of junkie mom Halley, in a remarkable creation by non-actress Bria Vinaite (the director found her on Facebook), is so above it all and so cool, in fact, that it's almost infectious. And the daughter played by Brooklyn Prince? I've seen all the films of Tomáš Holý, Haley Joel Osment and other great child actors, but Brooklyn leaves them in the dust with her brilliantly immediate acting! I just.... missed the movie so much that I had to watch it again after two weeks. All 165 (!!) festival award nominations, collected from all over the world, are well deserved. (26/03/2018)