The Florida Project

The Florida Project (2017) directed by Sean Baker , among its stars Willem Dafoe- nominated in the category of Best supporting actor at the 90th Oscars.

In the Florida Project the cam follows the steps of a group of kind who lived near DisneyLand, and, in particular of the 6 yo Moonee, the daughter of the screwed up young hooker Halley. The two of them used to spend their summer holidays in the Magic Castle motel in Kissimmee, where Moonee every year reunited with her young partners in crime Scooty and her bae Janey. The cam shows them while fooling around mocking tourists and other inhabitants, trying to picture the normal life of this unfortunates people who survive thanks to offers and favors that Bobby (Dafoe), the manager, saves for them.

• Near by a magical place, real people struggle. I liked the contrast between the imagined Florida represented by the idealistical DisneyLand, which is shown only in the final scene as a contrast to the fact that normal people live in a shade that (obviously) tourists ignore. Is Florida so magical as we imagine? The answer is no, and we see it in the Magic Castle motel, where young girls are already mother of 6 yo babies and have to do full time jobs or to sell their body in order to survive.
• Food. What effort worths a hot meal? Well, Halley feeds Moone with Waffles and Take Aways, but, as long as Halley has the opportunity she knocks at her mother’s door to pass a pleasant night, sleep under a decent roof and eat some heart-made dish. On the other hand food is a coagulant factor for Halley and Mooney, that spend their ¾ of time together eating, as food could fulfilled their lack of affection, or, on the other hand, food is seen a mean of power, as we see in the scene where Halley argues with Scooty’s mother.
• Almost abandoned kids that fool around all day, become piromanes without even realize the consequence of their actions because nobody told them.
• Bobby aka Willem Defoe who as the interesting role of both being the owner of the Magical Castle and the one who seems to be the great father, trying to fix troubles for Halley and other mates.
• The emotional final scene, gives back to Moonee and Janey their stolen childhood.

Movie rating: 4/5.