‘Florida Project’ looks at other side of paradise
In order to buy large lots of land cheap, Walt Disney called his Orlando property buying spree the Florida Project.
“The Florida Project” that Sean Baker looks at is a far cry from Disney World.
Baker’s project isn’t about the tourists able to pay to visit the “happiest place on earth,” but the broken, single-parent families living nearby week-toweek and hand-to-mouth in cheap motels.
Among these “hidden homeless” are those whose jobs and homes were lost in the 2008 financial meltdown and never recovered.
Baker, whose wonderful breakthrough was the 2015 comedy “Tangerine,” about two transgender hookers of color on the streets of L.A., manages something remarkable with “The Florida Project.”
He tells two wildly different stories that complement each other. The first is a celebration of childhood innocence, which he said was inspired by The Little Rascals, who entertained Depression-era moviegoers.
Moonee (Brooklynn Prince, just 6 years old and remarkable) is given free rein by her single mother, Halley (Lithuania-born, Brooklyn-raised Bria Vinaite). We follow Moonee and her playmates as they explore and delight in their humble surroundings.
Precocious Moonee already knows how to hustle ice cream money from tourists, has discovered the bucolic wonder of cows in a nearby pasture and luckily escapes serious harm or punishment for causing an unexpected demolition.
Baker’s other story centers on multi-tattooed Halley, an unemployed pole dancer with a temper, driven to desperate measures to pay the weekly rent.
Acting as guardian and exasperated disciplinarian for the Magic Castle Hotel is Bobby (Willem Dafoe), the manager with a conscience. He expels predators, must threaten late payers with eviction and answers to the boss/owner, whose only concern is profits, not tenants.
“The Florida Project,” despite its ability to marvel at the natural wonders that offset poverty-stricken circumstances, doesn’t sugarcoat harsh realities.
Halley’s sordid, sexualized life is a troubling map for Moonee’s possible, probable future.
Sure, Baker’s “Florida Project” ends on a gorgeously upbeat fantasy, but it can’t erase sober realities.
(“The Florida Project” has drug use, profanity and sexual references.)