The Florida Project Dvd

The Florida Project is a 2017 American slice-of-life comedy-drama film directed by Sean Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch. It stars Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera, and Caleb Landry Jones. It was the first film appearance for many of the cast. The plot follows a six-year-old girl living with her delinquent single mother in a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, as they try to stay out of trouble and make ends meet, so they may keep ahead of impending homelessness. The misery and squalor of their life in Kissimmee is contrasted with nearby Walt Disney World. The Florida Project refers to the original name of the theme park.

The Florida Project premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 6, 2017, by A24. The film was praised for Baker’s directing and the performances, particularly Prince and Dafoe’s. It was chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top 10 films of the year. Dafoe earned Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and BAFTA Awards. Prince won the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer.

Plot

Six-year-old Moonee lives with her young single mother Halley in the Magic Castle, a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, near Walt Disney World. She spends most of her summer days unsupervised with her motel-resident friends Scooty and Dicky, engaging in mischief. Bobby, the manager of Magic Castle, is protective of the children. After the kids are caught spitting on a guest’s car at Futureland, the motel next door, Dicky’s father restricts him from playing with Moonee and Scooty for a week.

While cleaning up the car, they get to know its owner, Stacy and her granddaughter Jancey, who are living at Futureland. Jancey and Moonee become quick friends. Later on, Dicky’s family relocates to New Orleans, which saddens the group, but Dicky’s father gives Dicky’s toys to the kids under the guise of having no more room in his car.

Moonee and Scooty come across a Brazilian tourist couple at night, who are on their honeymoon. The woman wanted to go to Walt Disney World for her honeymoon and the man’s brother mistakenly booked a room at the Magic Castle instead of Magic Kingdom. While watching the couple bicker about the misunderstanding, Moonee tells Scooty that she always knows when adults are about to cry.

Halley loses her job as an exotic dancer, which affects her eligibility for TANF benefits. She explains to the benefits officer that she was fired after refusing to have sex with clients at the strip club, but it is not seen as an extenuating circumstance. Unable to get a job at the diner and struggling to pay rent, Halley hawks perfume to tourists in hotel parking lots. Since the children are on summer vacation, she also babysits Scooty during the day in exchange for meals from Scooty’s mother Ashley – which she steals from the diner where she works.

Halley does not keep a watchful enough eye on the children, even after a scolding from Bobby. Despite his regular work and trying to host his adult son, who occasionally comes to visit and help with work around the motel, Bobby tries to monitor the kids, but their mischief grows increasingly dangerous. They break into the motel’s electrical room, causing a blackout. Bobby also catches, beats, and ejects a pedophile talking to the kids in the parking lot. When the kids inadvertently burn down an abandoned condominium complex when trying to use the fireplace, Ashley finds out and cuts contact (and meals) from Halley.

Needing money for food and motel bills, Halley begins soliciting sex work online, closing Moonee in the bathroom with loud music when she has a client. When she steals a client’s Disney resort passes to scalp them, the man returns to demand them back. Bobby scares him off, but restricts guests in her motel room and warns Halley that he will evict her if the prostitution continues. Desperate, Halley approaches Ashley to apologize and ask for money. When Ashley instead threatens her with violence, Halley attacks and beats her in front of Scooty. The next day, Ashley calls DCF on Halley to investigate her. She cleans up the room and gives away her weed but remains defiant. She takes Moonee to a resort hotel restaurant, where they charge the meal to a guest’s room.

When they return to the motel, DCF and the police are waiting to take Moonee into foster care pending investigation. Moonee says goodbye to Scooty, who lets slip that Moonee is going to a new family. Distraught, Moonee escapes DCF to find Jancey, who, after seeing Moonee’s shocking despair, takes her hand as the two run away to the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World.

Cast

Willem Dafoe’s performance earned him critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Brooklynn Prince as Moonee, a six-year-old girl
Bria Vinaite as Halley, Moonee’s mother
Willem Dafoe as Bobby Hicks, the manager of The Magic Castle Motel
Christopher Rivera as Scooty, Moonee’s friend
Mela Murder as Ashley, Scooty’s mother
Valeria Cotto as Jancey, Moonee’s new friend
Josie Olivo as Grandma Stacey, Jancey’s grandmother
Aiden Malik as Dicky, Moonee’s friend who moves away
Edward “Punky” Pagan as Dicky’s father
Caleb Landry Jones as Jack Hicks, Bobby’s son
Macon Blair as Tourist John
Sandy Kane as Gloria