Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is glorious. It is heartbreaking. It is difficult. It is lovely. His way of finding beauty in the most difficult lives without romanticism and without pity is remarkable. His Tangerine is a triumph and The Florida Project is right up there.
Newcomer Prince is a revelation, carrying an entire film on her small shoulders by being one of the most real characters you will see on screen all year. She is neither loveable nor detestable but manages to win us over without being a victim. And in the final moments of the film, moments that are heatwrenchingly, turbulently beautiful, she gives one of the most complex performances of the year.
Willem Dafoe plays a bit against character as a good tired man. Not a hero but honourable in so many ways. His presence is also a portrait of resiliency and decency.
And for so much of the movie I was exploring that feeling. The power of life to survive despite it all. In the shadow of the “happiest place on earth” we are presented with a silent desolation, and asked how this can happen around such indulgence.
But Baker’s characters are not pitiable. He brings us richly into their lives. And he shoots his magic castle with all the beauty he can find. And at the end I was crying both happy and sad tears. The remarkable ending hits us in the gut but promises something more than just dispare.
Truly magical.
The Florida Project
Starring: Willem Defoe
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Brooklyn Prince, Chris Bergoch
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