The Florida Project

This is exactly the kind of movie I usually go for – a feel-good movie and a classic indie drama. So, based on the reception of The Florida Project, my expectations were high. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t my thing. Although I agree with the high number of positive reviews, watching it was mind-numbing for me. As a de facto documentary about stereotypical white trash, it works perfectly, but apart from the character of Willem Dafoe, there is not a single at least partially likable character that I could relate to, quite the contrary. The behavior of the central group of three screaming kids was driving me nuts, and the main character of the mother - a typical representative of the American white trash mentality "I am a total wreck, an incompetent loser, absolutely useless to society and it’s somebody else’s fault, not mine" – just plain irritated me. There might have been those who experienced some sort of a powerful catharsis after the ending, but personally, I only experienced the feeling of being pissed off. I rarely look at my watch to see how much time is left until the end - in this case, after a while, it was every 5 minutes. (28/01/2019)

It’s been few days after the screening and I'm still thinking about this film. It's an incredibly "colorful" film, not only because of the camera, which captures the garishly colored architecture on the suburbs of Florida with gusto, but also in terms of feeling. An emotional roller-coaster ride with an almost infectious energy that mixes endless sadness with the happiness and naivety of young children and their parents from the margins of society, who – even though their lives are awful – can rejoice in the little things. On the one hand, it's a pretty depressing experience (you wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that mom), but it always makes up for it with the guileless child's view of the world, who doesn't worry about anything and enjoys what little life brings. The film doesn't make you feel depressed about your messed-up life, but rather caresses you, thanks to Willem Dafoe, who is a tough hotel manager, but a fair, straight man with protective instincts (brilliant scene with the paedophile!), to whom you would entrust your children with a calm heart, or go out for a beer with. His performance is so brilliant that his character doesn't devolve into a caricature of his goodness, but you actually believe that such people exist among us. American indie films are often cursed with a sense of authenticity, but you can always sort of see that they're just playing at it. Not this one, though, this one is authentic to the bone. This is the true portrait of people on the fringes of American society, who are called "white trash", this is the "real America", where Disneyland is shown off with its own opulence, so that only two streets away, the losers live in a cheap hotel, but they don't complain about their fate. The character of junkie mom Halley, in a remarkable creation by non-actress Bria Vinaite (the director found her on Facebook), is so above it all and so cool, in fact, that it's almost infectious. And the daughter played by Brooklyn Prince? I've seen all the films of Tomáš Holý, Haley Joel Osment and other great child actors, but Brooklyn leaves them in the dust with her brilliantly immediate acting! I just.... missed the movie so much that I had to watch it again after two weeks. All 165 (!!) festival award nominations, collected from all over the world, are well deserved. (26/03/2018)

It didn’t sit well with me how the children told the story. It felt as if I packed a camera, flew to Florida, chose the motel closest to the airport in Orlando and sat there documenting what was happening around. I understand that was the intention of the movie but it simply wasn’t interesting to me. (19/01/2019)

This film has incredibly accurate acting performances, where not only Willem Dafoe shows how great an actor he is, but especially the actors you don't know and can't know. The child actors are excellent, but the film is dominated by Bria Vinaite, who is incredibly accurate, disgusting, and to some extent pitiable. A well-chosen cast that was well directed. (05/02/2018)

An excellent exploration of the lives of children whose parents are not exactly the most exemplary or affluent. Moonee, the little street urchin, was often up to mischief, but who could blame her when her mother lacked many virtues and deserved a good scolding herself. I enjoyed the colorfulness of the visuals and the energy of the narrative. An excellent match for those children's mischief. However, how Brooklynn Prince acted in the title role literally took my breath away. I ate it up, especially when she struck such a heartfelt melancholic note at the end. Throughout the film, I went through a range of feelings, from the universally negative to the joyful, and I kept wondering how this was all going to end. The finale itself, however, pleasantly surprised and moved me at the same time. I would also like to mention Willem Dafoe, who played the character of the morose caretaker Bobby with protective instincts to perfection. It gave the whole story a stamp of genuine humanity. (80%) (09/08/2020)