Florida Project

[Vic Sage]

WTF?

Talk about the emperor's new clothes, this much-lauded little indie is a total bore. As I was subjected to the day-to-day existence of little kids in a welfare motel on the fringe of Disneyworld, I kept waiting for something to happen, but virtually nothing does. It's just an unrelenting portrait of the sad, pathetic lives of these kids, with Willem Dafoe trying to look out for them as the building manager. Dafoe is fine, i guess, and some of the imagery is striking (all this poverty and need living in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom), but its so lacking in plot -- it is comprised of a randomly chosen string of incidents that bears almost no relationship to a narrative -- that i lost interest long before its inevitable conclusion.

Even MOONLIGHT was more compelling, and i hated that too. What the fuck is going on in Florida? It must be where entropy goes to die, so indie-filmmakers are drawn to it like moths to the black velvet painting of a flame.

[bmfc1]

The 1st hour I wondered what the hell I was watching. I even asked my son if it was a documentary. By the end I was captivated and still can't help thinking of these people and what they represent in America. They are ignored, not counted, under the radar, and putting them in the shadow of Disney World was brilliant. One of my favorite movies of the year.

[Vic Sage]

bmfc1 wrote: The 1st hour I wondered what the hell I was watching. I even asked my son if it was a documentary. By the end I was captivated and still can't help thinking of these people and what they represent in America. They are ignored, not counted, under the radar, and putting them in the shadow of Disney World was brilliant. One of my favorite movies of the year.

so what happened after the 1st hour changed your mind? what happened in the remaining [crossout]3 hours[/crossout] 51 minutes was different from the [crossout]3 hours[/crossout] 1 hour that preceded it? Those people were living, ignored, in the kitschy shadow of Disney during that 1st hour too, so what changed for you? Did the unrelenting tedium and sadness just wear you down so you confused ennui with profundity? Seriously, i need to know.

[bmfc1]

Their characters became more focused, hurt more as their needs were ignored, and I felt their pain.

[Vic Sage]

bmfc1 wrote: Their characters became more focused, hurt more as their needs were ignored, and I felt their pain.

Ah. Ok. I was too put off to feel much of anything beyond boredom. But mileage varies.

[Guest sharpie]

I liked it. I thought the kid was great as was Willem Dafoe. Yeah, a meandering plot, yeah it was episodic but I have an easier time with that than the tightly scripted everything must add up films that they keep churning out. Not a likable character in the whole movie but I bet people living in welfare hotels are often a pretty unlikable bunch. I saw it back in November and I still think about it three months later which is more than I can say for most movies. But, y'know, I liked Moonlight too.