The Florida Project

Starring: Brooklyn Prince, Christopher Rivera, Aidan Malik, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe, Caleb Landry Jones
Directed by: Sean Baker
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A young girl (Brooklyn Prince) plays with her friends and gets into trouble over a summer in Florida, while her mother (Bria Vinaite) struggles with how to support her family.

Review:
Tim: It's hard to know exactly how to feel about The Florida Project. It's a remarkable story that feels so true, such an accurate portrait of how many people live. It's heartbreaking and funny, shocking and sweet. It doesn't quite reach a level of greatness, but it gets awfully close. It is undoubtedly a film that I will not soon forget.

The movie takes place in a Florida housing project. You have people living here with their families and it's obvious they are just scraping by. Some are working hard to provide a better life for their family. Some are looking for an easy buck, regardless of how immoral or illegal the path might be. It's very sad to see people living like this. It's hard for me to fathom such an existence (I've reviewed over 3,300 movies, so I'm obviously not working two jobs to make ends meet). I've been lucky, but so many Americans haven't had the same opportunities, the same fortunate breaks. It's hard to watch people struggling to survive, but this movie does a remarkable job of showing that in all its gritty truth. What is even harder is that the story is mostly about young children growing up in this environment. The film is about a few children, but none are more central than the character of Moonee. I can't say enough about Brooklyn Prince's performance. It's stunning. She portrays the innocence of a young girl, but the streetwise smarts that come from growing up in a place like this. It breaks your heart to watch a girl grow up like this. Now, I also laughed at many points- this isn't just a movie trying to make you cry. It shows a well-rounded view of what life in these projects. It's not all bad, but you can't help but figure many of these children are doomed to repeat this same life with children of their own someday. It's very, very sad.

While Prince is stunning, she has help. I give Bria Vinaite so much credit for her performance. It never felt like it was acting. I've met people exactly like her character, Halley. She might have a good heart, but she's obviously made so many wrong choices, so many poor decisions. We see her continue down that path. Her character is abrasive and oftentimes unlikable, but there's something about her performance that keeps drawing us back to her. I also have to give great credit to Willem Dafoe. He has a small role, but it's essential to the film. I was so happy he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor- he undoubtedly deserved it. His performance is gruff but warm. He was remarkable here. One of my big complaints about the movie is that we didn't get more time with him. It was the right call to make him a supporting character instead of a lead, but he was so unbelievably good that the movie would have benefited from more time with him. While the rest of the cast all work well, this movie is really about Prince, Vinaite, and Dafoe.

I really loved this movie, but there are a few aspects that prevented me from hailing this as a great movie. The story does feel a bit repetitive. Some of that is intentional- the lives of these characters are somewhat repetitive. However, it didn't always make for the best viewing, especially towards the back half of the middle of the film. While things are building, the process was a bit slow and it feels like it takes a while to reach its conclusion. Speaking of that, I didn't love the ending of the film. I understand the symbolism and what it meant, but it felt a bit unsatisfying to me. The movie needed a more powerful conclusion. I felt for the characters, but I didn't feel quite enough of a deep emotional connection.

While the movie falls just short of greatness, The Florida Project is certainly a memorable, noteworthy film. It's a small movie but it's bursting with authenticity. It might not quite have made my Top 10 of 2017, but man, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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