Movie Review: Beautiful, Funny, Anarchic "The Florida Project" Builds to an All-Time Great Ending

The Florida Project is a funny, tragic, anarchic, hypercolour slice of life, and I loved it.

Director Sean Baker makes intimate films on a grand scale. His last feature, Tangerine, though shot on an iPhone, was a riotous comedy that stretched across Los Angeles’ streets and took its name from the burnt-orange filter that made it such a distinct visual delight.

His follow-up, The Florida Project, has way too many colours to devote just one to its title, and they shift in the heat of its Orlando setting (captured by DP Alexis Zabe). This flick is slightly larger in scope—more characters, better cameras—but it retains Tangerine’s DIY charm and immediacy, aided by a cast of untrained newcomers and anchored by an old hand, Willem Dafoe.

Set in a low-rent motel on the fringes of Disney World, it follows the residents as they struggle to pay their way; the trials of well-meaning manager Bobby (Dafoe), who’s just trying to keep the place humming; and the adventures of the local, feral, adorable kids as they entertain themselves over the summer break.

If you’re looking for a traditional plot, look elsewhere. For a long while, it feels like The Florida Project’s individual scenes and vignettes could be shuffled and played out of order: the kids get up to mischief, scamming passers-by for ice-cream money; Bobby escorts a suspected predator off the lot; the kids spy on a woman sunbathing topless by the motel pool; Bobby discretely disposes of a bedbug-ridden mattress; the kids lean against the upstairs railing and compete to see how far they can spit; and so on and so forth.

But a plot eventually emerges, concerning Halley (Instagram model Bria Vinaite), a twentysomething single-mother, and her wily six-year-old daughter Moonee (Brooklynn Prince). As Halley scrambles to bring in enough money to pay Bobby—$36 a night—she’s driven to hustle in increasingly risky ways. Meanwhile, Moonee tries to wrap her head around the sudden, unexpected end to a friendship with a young neighbour, Scooty (Christopher Rivera), while finding companionship with the quiet Jancey (Valeria Cotto).

These plots don’t collide until the breathtaking final minutes, when even Baker returns to his old anarchic self, grabbing the iPhone to shoot The Florida Project’s brilliant, heartbreaking conclusion (presumably without any permits), accompanied by a surprise burst of music by Lorne Balfe. It’s one of the most perfect endings I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

However, there are plenty of pleasures to enjoy before that last sequence, many of them unassuming and acutely observed. The specificity of The Florida Project gives it its magic, and magical this movie is, even as it delves into the harsh realities of systemic oppression and poverty.

Dafoe’s sunken-chested yet never-defeated performance is beautiful, and he intermingles effortlessly with the characterful faces and novices that make up the rest of Baker’s picture. All three child actors are wonderful, though Prince in particular is wickedly funny and prickly. Vinaite, too, is unflinching and unforgiving as Halley, a character as sympathetic as she is self-destructive.

The Florida Project is even better than Tangerine, which is the direction you’d hope young filmmakers aim their careers. It’s also as close to actual Florida as I’ll ever be willing to get. It’s generous to its setting without giving it a spit-polish. Slices-of-life don’t have to double as tourism ads; they just need to feel lived-in, and this definitely feels like that. I have high hopes for wherever Baker takes us next.

4.5/5

In cinemas 21 December 2017. Rated MA15+ for strong coarse language.