‘The Florida Project’: A24 Launches the Likely Oscar Contender This October
"Moonlight” distributor A24 has found a release date for its big Cannes buy, 88thDirector’s Fortnight entry “The Florida Project.” October 6th falls right after a fresh round of media attention coming out of likely play at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals in the course of an inevitable Oscar push.
For Sean Baker’s follow-up to iPhone movie “Tangerine,” he returned to a project he started researching with co-writer Chris Bergoch back in 2013. (This time, he shot in 35 mm.) Only after “Tangerine” could he score financing for another look at outsiders living on the margins of society.
Six-year-old Monee (Brooklynn Prince) is the focus of this slice-of-life movie, which relies on local casting and Instagram discovery Bria Vinaite as her loving but volatile ex-stripper mother Halley, who scrapes together her rent money every week, selling wholesale perfume at a nearby tourist hotel. Baker asked Vinaite to stand up to two-time-Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (“Platoon,” “Shadow of the Vampire”), whose frustrated but humane motel manager is the glue that holds together this poverty-row drama. He’s the closest thing to a father figure and civilizing force these marginal characters will ever know.
Yup, this is my favourite film of 2017. I fell apart during the last ten minutes. Simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, this is the most humanist film I’ve seen in a long time.
Yup, this is my favourite film of 2017. I fell apart during the last ten minutes. Simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, this is the most humanist film I’ve seen in a long time.
Sean Baker is some kind of wizard getting these performances out of people who have never acted before.
But yeah, this movie hasn't really left my mind since I watched it a few nights ago. Always a good thing.
