The Florida Project - The Eclectic Cinema

FILMS FOR TODAY

The Florida Project 15

USA | 2017 111 minutes

DIRECTED BY

Sean Baker

STARRING

Brooklynn Prince| Bria Vinaite| Willem Dafoe

27 January 2025 MONDAY 19:30

GREEN ROOM BAR

Tickets £7.00|£5.00 (under 26) CONCESSION NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE

The director of this film, Sean Baker, has become something of a phenomenon. His latest film Anora (released November 2024) won the 2024 Palme d’Or at Cannes, making him first American director to achieve this since Terence Malick for The Tree of Life in 2011. We screened one of his earlier (micro-budget) movies Tangerine in April 2024.

The Florida Project does not fall into the experimental category – it has a higher budget (though still only $2 million), a big name (Willem Dafoe) and was filmed on 35mm. But, like his other films, it involves the lives and experiences of marginalised people – in this case the poor, trying to scrape a living in present-day America. And, again, many of the actors in the film are first-timers, from whom Baker has succeeded in drawing the most moving and memorable performances.

The scene is the Magic Castle Inn, a motel which happens to be located next door to Walt Disney World. Halley and her six-year-old daughter Moonee share a room there, the mother getting by working as a stripper. Moonee is friends with other kids living in the motel, and together they enjoy unruly and imaginative fun over the summer, pretty much unsupervised. Things start to go wrong when Halley loses her job and has to find other means of income. The kids continue their fun, hardly aware of the troubled times ahead; meanwhile the janitor of the motel (Dafoe) keeps a supportive eye on his diverse residents.

The children are brilliant in this film – little rascals running amok in their peculiarly pastel environment. Brooklynn Prince, as Moonee, was especially acclaimed by the critics, as was Bria Vanaite, playing her mother. And Willem Dafoe – as the janitor holding things together – was also reckoned to have delivered one of his best performances. The Florida Project was very well received on release and Sean Baker won Director of the Year for the film at the London Critics Circle Awards in 2018.