THE FLORIDA PROJECT (2017)

11/4/2017 - The Florida Project (2017) - 7+/8-/10

Certainly not an upper, but a slow and subtle slice-of-life peering into a downtrodden underbelly existence while still entertaining. It does what is trying to do so well, succoring us in our view of the often unseen and relating it to the crassest of capitalistic entities and symbolizing the direst of America in a pointed way. All of this is done with a genuineness, naivety, and innocence, elements we draw largely from the cherubic visages of these kids but also the lived-too-fast and lithe tatted-but-not-grown parents. The charm the characters bring and the skill to realize this gorgeous vision on screen sugars the sour and dour pill that must be swallowed.

This film is naturalistic as hell, feeling many times that a camera was just placed in front of the performers as they did what they would innately be drawn to doing. The little girl protagonist (Brooklyn Pierce) was a spark of magic and instinctive realism. She is wonderful, capturing our hearts and driving the film. Dafoe brought an actorly weight of burden and conviction to his role, and though he perhaps was not in it as much as I would have liked, he is the caretaker of this tale tightening its dangling bits and sharpening the sympathetic prongs. His role is strongly written and even better performed.

It does drag from a distinct lack of consistent storyline, flowing scene to scene in a monotony of life and thinly expressed motivational arcs. I feel that the director might have gotten too wrapped up in the bombasity of their gratuitous situations, losing the narrative guidepost and tighter plotting that propelled Tangerine. But as much as this drags it down, it also thoroughly clicks here, paving the path to be followed and impressing upon us the potholes that wreck these lives. The story is less important, highlighting its unending-ness and picking at the open wound that won’t heal; there is no narrative direction but more of a cinema verite expression of this existence. (The seemingly out of place and abrupt ending speaks to the fantasy on the cruel edges of these children’s lives and the juxtaposition of that capper and their reality is the commentary needed to show that no matter how they run, there is no magic happy ending to their or this tale).

Simplistic, depressing, funny, and beautiful. Thinly spreading sweetness over bitter bread, Florida Project is lived in and legitimate. Not as outright enjoyable as Tangerine there is a social poignance that prickles the heart skin and probably turns some off, but it never dwells on the tragedy. This is a quite strong film, able to drag you into a less savory place that you don’t want to visit but feel more complete upon entering, all while sweetly sucking us into & highlighting the joys and measured successes.