The Florida Project

This film is just so a bit of me, the colouring, the aesthetic, the themes, it’s all I could wish for. Sean Paul I’m about to binge your biography because I love you, bros taken a note or two off of Wes Anderson. The Florida Project is a film contrasting from the beauty of a child’s mind to the hardships of an adults, this contrast sticks throughout the film and continues to dwell on our opinions as we indulge deeper into it. As a huge cinematography lover I was completely drawn to the use of long shots and still frames in this film as it really establishes the unique perspective of a child and creates a true sense of realism. As we can acknowledge that the idealised American dream is a fantasy of the need for success (in which most people end up falling into), the film can therefore sketch the idea that greed and obstruction will end up taking over one’s wellbeing, in which the film utilizes this idea to portray the ultimate reality of American poverty.  This film is so vibrant which really contradicts the message that it’s implying, which I love. As the biggest visual lover in the world, I was completely in love with the use of purple in the film. It’s a colour with little emotion but it displays good signs of contradictory which is what the film tries to hang onto throughout. It symbolises great struggle in poverty even when they are promised Utopia from the “American dream” in where they realistically use Disney World as a back drop for a dreamscape, in comparison to the harsh realities  people are actually experiencing. Purple was a great choice to display a contrast between the adult and the child mind; It’s a blend of sweetness and sourness, innocence and harsh, which is what the film wants to relay.  I love the aspect of a child’s mind in this film and how it can morph reality into something so gentle, don’t get me wrong the kids in this film have been lead a difficult life but they have still made the absolute best out of it and still love every moment as any kid does. However contrasting to the adults is absolutely gut wrenching as we see how high the struggles are for the adult characters but we see the kids have little to no emotional affect from these conditions (which was always going to bite them in the back, as we see in the saddening ending). Willem Dafoe was superb, his acting was as always splendid. His character played such an important role in the story where he embodies a benevolent authority figure for both the mother and the daughter. This helps stand a middle ground between the contrast of the adult and child mind, as we see him represent a non-hierarchical figure where he blurs between the lines of the people he manages and himself. The aesthetic of this film is just so me which I could tell before I even popped it on. I’ve never watched Sean Baker before but this film has without a doubt set me on him, I’m about to watch his whole biography. A genius some would say. An absolute phenomenal watch with outstanding performances from actors and actresses as little as seven years old- mind blowing. On level with Aftersun on the portrayal of a child’s mind. Films it reminded me of: Mommy (2014)Room (2015)Mid90s (2018)Waves (2019)Aftersun (2022)