Shot in beautiful pastel colours, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is so intimate and real that you can almost feel the Floridian heat radiating on your skin. Set during the summer, the film follows Moonee, a young girl living with her mother, Halley, in an extended-stay motel. She explores her surroundings with her friends with a nativity and child-like wonder that you’d expect from a 6-year-old, except she also has some rough edges on her due to her up-bringing.
The performances are so great that you don’t even realize you’re watching actors on a screen. Willem Dafoe, in particular, stands out as the caring motel manager who is sometimes annoyed by the mother-daughter duo. Once again, Baker is able to tell a raw, and honest story without any frills. The Florida Project is about the journey of the story, not the destination, and I never want the adventure to stop.
Rating: 8/10
Public Screenings: Sept 10 3 pm, Sept 11 4:45 pm