Review of The Florida Project (2017) by Dean E — 13 Feb 2018

My wife and and I continued our tour of OSCAR hopefuls by watching "The Florida Project". This is a small budget story that takes place entirely at or near a budget hotel near Disney World. Many lower income people are staying there on a week by week basis with some additional guests, mainly budget-minded tourists.

Willem Dafoe is the hotel manager who's trying to keep things running, tries to keep the peace among the guests/residents, while trying to make the place a bit more appealing. The main focus surrounds a single mother (Bria Vinaite) and her young daughter (Brooklynn Prince).

The movie starts off following young kids running around rampantly in and around the hotel. I found it hard to get into the movie as it had a quirky, story-less, feel about it. After about 10 minutes, I was questioning as to where this was all going.

However, as you got to know the kids and the parents, it became increasingly enthralling. The crazy thing is the this was the first movie for Brooklynn Prince (who, for whatever reason, isn't even listed in the RT cast list) and Valeria Cotto.

They did amazing jobs. Willem Dafoe's manager was solid, too. I like budget hotels (yes, I'm cheap) and the ambiance of this movie was bang on. The film is often seen from the children's perspective, with the camera shot often from their height.

There's also the juxtaposition of their lives vs the tourism and money that's just beyond their little world. The movie ends quite abruptly in a symbolic kind of way. It didn't leave a profound impact on me.

Overall, it was neat with excellent performances, though it did leave me wanting. My wife felt the same.