Not all messages are displayed:
show all messages (126 of them)
Well, violently down the middle on Florida Project.
For awhile, yes, Alfred is right that the movie takes for granted that "these horrifying children are charming little dears" and, left-field quips aside, not remotely convincing. Eventually, it settles into truly expert "everyone has their reasons" territory -- many moments of unforced efficiency. (Am thinking of the interlude with Willem Dafoe's son, I think, saying he doesn't want to "do this anymore," and also clearly understanding why Dafoe's character feels compelled to continue. And how the sudden pattern of bathtime play interludes gently invites the audience into a new and unpleasant plot point.)
And it has a knack for portraying squalor in a way that makes it clear how adults can see their environment one way and kids another way entirely. But one of the movie's most obvious but well-realized examples -- the birthday fireworks a half-mile away from the real show -- just underscored how the abrupt ending didn't fucking work. After Tangerine, which had one of my favorite endings in recent years, this was a damp squib. Even taking into consideration how it brings "reality" crashing into a 6-year-old girl's life so violently she has nowhere to turn to but desperate fantasy. But the movie's a lot stronger when it sticks to things like the tourists' helicopter endlessly taking off: exciting to kids, a slap in the face to the destitute adults.
Still, I'll refrain from calling any filmmaker willing to devote serious career energies into depicting the American underclass condescending until we actually have anything remotely like an appropriate proportion of filmmakers devoting serious career energies into depicting the American underclass.
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 03:52 (six years ago) link
Oh, and didn't need lines like, "Do you know why this is my favorite tree? Because it’s tipped over and still growing." Not at all.
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 03:54 (six years ago) link
That was the best line! Perfect metaphor for America in 2017. And such a gorgeous image of them sitting on the tree, absolutely beautiful.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 08:37 (six years ago) link
Well, if a lot of people in the US agree with you, that's probably a major reason why American art is so shitty.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 11:13 (six years ago) link
And yeah, as the best American director of the decade, Sean Baker probably deserves his own thread.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 12:37 (six years ago) link