The Florida Project
The Florida Project Unedited Thoughts - This is part of my unedited thoughts series. The realness of what little shits kids can be will punch you in the face with this one. But they also steal the show. All of the kids in this heart-wrenching tale are spectacular.
The kids normal existence is pretty depressing as you see them begging for money for a single ice-cream that they all share. They are also constant plot drivers – turning off the power to the motel and setting one of the abandoned houses on fire.
Perhaps I identify a little too well with their antics. I find the kids super real. The main girl is fantastically mischievous – she teeters on the edge of being really bad. She keeps pushing the boundaries but she knows when she is in big trouble.
This film has some great talent in it. Almost as soon as the credits are over we are shocked to see Willem Dafoe as the overworked motel manager, Bobby. He is fantastic with the kids – but he knows if you give them an inch and they will take a yard.
Bobby is a real and enigmatic character. He is torn between being excellent at his job at running this terrible motel for the rif-raf that it attracts to kowtowing to his boss that gets him to impose some pretty ridiculous things on the populace.
He is always there as well. He is switched on and present. Stepping in to save the kids from a paedophile and to get the harmless old lady from skinny dipping at the pool.
Lots of the story is told from the perspective of the kids which is really tough to do. It’s hard to show complex stories this way because the kids just don’t understand what is going on. So normally I would say it doesn’t work.
That’s normally – here it is brilliantly used. We are dragged along with the delinquent mother who as she hawks perfume at hiked up rates. We slowly realise what is going on with all the baths that the girl is taking – the WOW moment here is devastating.
The down on her luck – delinquent – mum is great. She is very hot and cold with everyone but is fiercely defensive of her daughter and is also her best friend. I’m not a parent nor do I think I could offer any advice. But I know when it isn’t working – and sister – this ain’t working.
As the focus tightens on her mum’s inability to support them you realise that we are heading for a train wreck – the question is just how and when. The end is powerful and the confrontation between the authority figures and the daughter is poignant.
And then the story is done and the kids disappear into the crowds at Disneyland. Obviously.
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