The Florida Project

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  • The Florida Project

    Wow! This is pretty much perfect and the kind of thing a studio would never do. My only complaint is that the print (or the file, I guess) seemed a little fuzzy. Still, the best film I've seen this year... last year too.

  • #2
    Re: The Florida Project

    I thought this was pretty good and definitely refreshing, but I would not go so far as to call it amazing. I thought it was overly long and bloated, and a bit self-indulgent. Also everyone's heaping praise on Willem Dafoe for his part. Yeah he's good but the story really doesn't feature him that much and there's an unresolved story line for him that kind of just fizzles.

    As a writer I keep going back to issues with the characters and story that cause me to consider the script pretty weak. Still, hats off to Sean Baker. He wants to tell stories that are not typical Hollywood or genre fare, and he's doing it with great success.

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    • #3
      Re: The Florida Project

      I loved it. It did a good job of showing the poor conditions they live in while still giving it the optimism and joy of childhood. I would like to do a double bill with Do The Right Thing at some point.

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      • #4
        Re: The Florida Project

        I also loved this film. It stayed with me. I don't put it in the same class as "Moonlight- - mostly because of the structural sag in the middle - but perhaps the seemingly rambling, episodic structure makes the gut-wrenching ending arrive with greater impact. The acting, especially the kids, is extraordinary. I also can't stop thinking about the Willem Defoe character. He projects a deep sadness, along with compassion. Even though the situation of the hotel residents is precarious at best, you know he genuinely cares about them. That scene where he deals with the creepy old guy hanging around the kids... wow. I hope this performance is recognized at awards time.

        Overall, the film felt more like a European film than American. It reminded me of Italian neo-realist films I saw years ago. I was delighted that the theater was nearly full when I saw it a few weeks ago. Maybe the audience is growing hungry for something other than superhero extravaganzas? Huge respect for the writer-director and everyone involved.

        Late Night Writer

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        • #5
          Re: The Florida Project

          there arrives a point about 30 minutes into The Florida Project, after a half-hour or so of the pack of unsupervised children terrorizing the adult residents of these shithole "Disney-adjacent" welfare motels, that it suddenly dawns on you. these scenes haven't been a prelude or the introduction of the story's characters leading up to something resembling an inciting incident or the Act One break. nope, this IS the whole movie. and you still have another 90 minutes of it to go.

          two straight hours of a bunch of kids being rotten little $hits. lazy self-indulgent trash.

          apparently the title refers to Disney's secret name for Disney World while it was under development. if the point (and it never seems to really have one) is to show us the other side of Orlando, that the tourists never see, there were surely better stories or characters, e.g., the exploited foreign or immigrant workers in the actual parks, to illustrate that divide.

          instead, we get to watch a garbage mom scam her way through daily existence. in my experience and observation, mothers like Haley actually wouldn't even give two ****s whether child services came and took their child away to foster care. they want to tell themselves they care enough to earn the right to be a parent but when push comes to shove, they'll pick the bottle or the blunt or the needle over their kids almost every time.

          i'm astounded (Dafoe's performance notwithstanding, the only redeeming thing in it) that critics are showering this with such praise. even more shocking that it took two people to write the script.
          Last edited by JoeBanks; 11-19-2017, 01:05 AM.

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