The Florida Project

This American coming-of-age drama is both hard-hitting and touching at the same time, sporting a cast of lesser known actors (for many of the cast members, it was their first role) amid one big name: Willem Dafoe. Acclaimed by critics upon its 2017 release, the engaging and beautifully shot indie film is a kitchen-sink-drama American style.

Welcome to the city of Kissimmee in Florida, situated near Disney World. It’s in a budget motel in Kissimmee where the action unfolds, primarily focusing on six-year old Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince) and her good-for-nothing young Mum Halley (Bria Vianite) - a former stripper who quit her job for refusing to have sex with a client. Fair enough of course, but as a result she has been ‘punished’ as her benefits eligibility is now compromised. Mother and daughter reside in a cheap budget hotel called Magic Castle Inn & Suites and outwardly it looks cosy enough - what with the various facades dipped in pastel colours. Take a closer look and behind the facade a different picture emerges, for quite a few of the residents are one up from trailer trash. Halley, foul-mouthed, heavily tattooed, her long hair dyed in rainbow colours and smoking like a chimney, tries to make ends meet by purchasing cheap perfume from a wholesale store and then peddling it to unassuming tourists for profit. She’s also relying on food provided to her by her upstairs neighbour Ashley (Mela Murder), who works in the local diner and whose young son Scooty (Christopher Rivera) is good friends with Moonee. The two kids are whiling the time away unattended while their mothers are going about their own business - in Halley’s case, that means lazing about on the bed watching TV or listening to Rap music when not peddling perfume. She’s also shoplifting to make ends meet.

No surprises then that she’s constantly in trouble with the motel’s caretaker/manager Bobby Hicks (Willem Dafoe), a sympathetic guy with a no-nonsense attitude who has to put up on a daily basis with the more ‘troublesome’ residents of the motel in his charge. One of those troublesome residents is, it goes without saying, Halley, who is usually behind with her rent and on top of it, always is in trouble with Bobby as her daughter and Scooty usually get up to mischief, for example by spitting on parked cars from a balcony. Another resident Bobby has trouble with is flamboyant Gloria (Sandy Kane), who likes to sunbathe topless by the swimming pool despite kids being present within the periphery. When one of Moonee’s friends, Dickey, moves away with his family, she is sad but quickly befriends the new kid on the block, Jancey (Valeria Otto), who is altogether more considerate and less of a troublemaker - that’s because she’s not coming from a fractured home.

As the weeks go by, we get a more detailed impression of the struggles Halley has regarding rent (and needing money for her ‘weed’). Pilfering tourists, stealing and what have you. When Bobby issues her with a final warning regarding her missing rent payments, she takes up an additional job working from home as a phone sex operator, with Moonee stacked away in the bathroom listening to loud music while Mom is on the phone. Things spin out of control when Moonee, Scooty and Jancey accidentally set a nearby condominium complex on fire with a lighter which Dickey had left behind. When Scooty’s mum finds out that her son was with Moonee during the incident, she forbids her son from having any further contact with Moonee and her mum on grounds of them having a bad influence on him. This has not only consequences for Moonee but for Halley too, because the fallout with her former friend means she will no longer receive free food. When it comes to a physical punch-up during which Ashley is assaulted by an enraged Halley, police and social services are finally called and an investigation starts into Halley being an unfit mother…

The conclusion is heart-wrenching and it’s Moonee who has to face the consequences for her mother’s erratic behaviour and lifestyle. While Halley clearly loves her daughter, she’s seemingly not capable of looking after Moonee in a proper way - even the food they eat is pretty awful (or perhaps it’s just your average American junk food diet): white bread, bacon with jelly, pepperoni pizza, burgers, ice cream… and not a single vegetable in sight. At that rate, both mother and daughter should come down with bowel cancer or diabetes 2 in no time!

Willem Dafoe is his usual impressive as Bobby, the beleaguered motel manager, with everyone else delivering strong performances too. Standout here is Brooklynn Kimberly Prince who is utterly convincing in her role of Moonee and she’s since appeared in numerous other films.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT has just been released in Standard Edition 4k UHD and Blu-ray format, as well as in Limited Edition 4k UHD/Blu-ray format. Bonus material includes audio commentaries and countless interviews, while the Limited Edition release also includes a 160-page hardback book and a rigid slipcase with new artwork.