The Happiest Place on Earth: Review of The Florida Project

The Florida Project

Director: Sean Baker

By Alex Watson

A heartbreaking and raw look at the playfulness and naivety of youth, Sean Baker's The Florida Project is bound to break hearts. Previously gathering huge acclaim for his iPhone shot movie Tangerine, Baker emerges as a real indie talent. Set in Orlando, Florida in the shadow of Disneyland, this is one place where dreams and lives go to rot. Willem Dafoe and six-year-old actress Brooklynn Kimberley Prince give performances that will no doubt be given consideration come awards season.

In the run-down Magic Castle Motel, six-year-old Mooney (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince) is a talkative and troublemaking girl who lives with her heavily tattoed and foul-mouthed mother Hailey (Bria Vinaite). Alongside her friends Scootey (Christopher Rivera) and later Jancey (Valeria Cotto), they spend their days getting up to all kinds of mischief. Motel manager Bobby (William Dafoe) is continually concerned about the pair, particularly when it becomes clear Hailey might be up to suspicious activity.

From the very first frame of The Florida Project, there is a grimy yet carefree approach. When we meet Mooney and Scootey, they are cheerfully spitting off the side of a rail onto another person's car below. When caught in the act, they gleefully spirit away. When confronted about her daughter's behaviour, Hailey can only reply with a barely contained smirk. Mooney is a girl full of energy but she is also a bundle of trouble. Living in a roadside motel that looks like a welfare version of the Grand Budapest Hotel, there are numerous abandoned buildings to cause havoc and food places where they scrounge money off locals. Despite her surroundings and obvious poverty, the little girl finds joy and wonder all around. Hailey, on the other hand, is a ticking time bomb. Having a fast mouth and no filter, her aggressive style frequently gets them into trouble. Fired as from her last job, she now seeks to come up with rent money every month. Desperate she hustles and pleads tourists at nicer hotels to buy her knockoff perfume and indulges in some other more... illicit methods.

The side story of Bobby is one that gives the movie a more nurturing side. A man with a calm and rational approach to life, Bobby has a hard time keeping up appearances at this decaying motel. One of the few people to show Hailey any ounce of kindness, Bobby is the father figure Mooney desperately needs. He also a protector of the weak, in one scene he at first kindly then furiously sees off an old paedophile who approaches some kids.  The struggles of the lower class is the most obvious theme of Baker's movie. Hailey is a woman barely getting by and there are no jobs on offer. Even people like the jaded cab driver who drives a bickering couple to the motel is struggling to get paid. Mooney however, thrives in her environment but her lack of discipline soon causes issues. Hailey throughout makes no attempt to correct or punish her daughter and this causes a huge strain with her only friend Ashley (Mela Murder).

Inevitably The Florida Project descends into a heartbreak and tragedy in its final act. All the way you sense that something terrible is building, but we know we are powerless to stop it. Baker includes some moments of pure joy and beauty, one particular scene we see Hailey and Mooney happily messing around during a rainstorm. In this one moment you feel the bond between mother and daughter and it stings us to the core. As a person, her mother is more of a handful than her daughter. But you know her love for Mooney is absolute and she strives to keep a roof over their head no matter what. Bobby is also a man with his own issues as he is regularly forced to evict troublemakers and has a strained relationship with his own son (Caleb Landry Jones). Baker stretches our emotions to the maximum- although the final scene of the movie will draw a more divisive response.

Willem Dafoe gives one of the finest performances of his career as Bobby. One of the movie's more caring figures, Dafoe injects a great deal of warmth into this picture. Young Brooklynn Kimberly Prince is the standout performer as Mooney. A real force of nature on screen, this kid is both extremely sassy but also so adorable and sweet. Prince projects the movies childlike innocence and seeing the world through Mooney's eye is both fascinating and devastating at the same point. Bria Vinaite is also magnificently as the grenade gobbed Hailey. Discovered by Baker on social media, this actress is like a hurricane of destruction throughout. Her performance is one that is wonderfully natural and feels almost like she is a subject of a documentary than a feature film star.

The Florida Project is one of those indie efforts that really knocks you off your feet. Sean Baker is a real talent to watch and we wait for his next movie in anticipation.

Sign O' The Times: Review of Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

TIFF EXCLUSIVE

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Director: Martin McDonagh

By Alex Watson

Walking home with the Viewer's Choice prize at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri was a worthy winner. Blending some wicked dark humour with such raw emotion makes this an unforgettable experience. A stand-out cast lead by the amazing Frances McDormand brings this tale of small-town vengeance brilliantly to life.

Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) is a grieving mother whose daughter was previously raped and murdered. Angered at having no arrests made over seven months since the murder, Mildred resorts to a drastic action. She arranges to have three billboards advertising her disgust at the police's lack of effort towards finding the killer. Doing this immediately increases tension in the town, particularly for Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) and dim-witted officer George Dixon (Sam Rockwell).

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is an experience so unique that it's difficult to describe. Anyone who has watched McDonagh's first two features 'In Bruges' and 'Seven Psychopaths' will be aware just how skillfully he blends sheer belly laughs with heartbreaking realism. Mildred Hayes is what drives the movies rage, a mother simply out for vengeance in a cruel world. The whole case and the apathy surrounding it has driven her to her last nerve. There was no DNA and no witnesses so the case when cold pretty fast. McDonagh's script is excellently written and those expecting a straightforward affair are in for a surprise. The identity of Angela's killer is the furthest thing on the mind of this film. Channelling her anger into standing up for herself amidst town rage, Mildred is just hoping to keep her daughter's fate in the public eye.

It has to be said, McDonagh is a master when it comes to expressing character flaws. Mildred is our heroine but she never once attempts to play herself as likeable. A cussin', punch throwing and permanently furious woman, messing with her is ill-advised. Then there's the added problem of her abusive ex-hubby Charlie (John Harkes) whose new 20-year-old mistress is a never-ending source of amusement. Willoughby while an honest down to earth man is also nursing an inner torment that will soon become a life and story changing turn. There is a sense of injustice to her targeting this man personally as he cannot physically make her killer appear. However, there is a wonderfully blunt scene in which he confesses his big secret, only to be hilariously shrugged off. Dixon is the movie's ticking time bomb, an incompetent and homophobic officer, the writing is on the wall from the moment we meet him. Constantly harassing local ad-man Red (Caleb Landry Jones), you can sense that soon enough he will do something dumb. Continually browbeaten by his domineering mother, McDonagh superbly switches character arcs midway and turns this dumb cop into an unlikely hero.

Continually throughout Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri we find ourselves questioning what we see. Are the actions Mildred takes really the right ones? Should she just let this one go and leave town? Is George really the big jerk that we imagine? What about the cold and sinister stranger who pays a visit to Mildred's shop? This movie is one where we are never sure whether to laugh or cry, McDonagh invests such a poignant feel in this picture but it also hits upon some bitter truths. Life isn't fair and each character feels they've been hard done by in life. All the petty squabbles to get even only increase the tension and hilarity. What would have happened if Mildred hadn't said her fateful last words to her daughter? Every time we think we know a character, McDonagh smartly blows out the water again. In this town, no one is free from sin but no-one is below settling scores either.

Frances McDormand emerges as the front-runner for the best actress Oscar. After this kind of performance, few others will be able to deny her. A whirlwind of suppressed rage, only McDormand can play angry this brilliantly. Her tongue is so acid it would probably make a Xenomorph from Alien retreat- during one brilliantly acted scene she savagely cuts her local priest down to size. McDormand shows just why she is one of Hollywood's elite talents and this kind of role is her bread and butter. Woody Harrelson equally deserves credit for his quiet brilliance as the frustrated Willoughby. Few actors can stare someone down quite like this man, but it's how he masks his characters inner fears that marks him out. Sam Rockwell is a revelation as the drunken and impulsive George Dixon. A man who truly hates how his life has turned out, Rockwell somehow finds charm among the hostile and casual hate this character spews. His transformation in the movie's final act is nothing short of remarkable.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is one of those films that makes you fall in love with cinema again. Martin McDonagh is a director who never fails to make us sit up and pay attention. It may have beaten I, Tonya and Call Me by Your Name to the big prize but no other film deserved this honor quite as much. 

Run If You Want To: Review of Get Out

Get Out

Director: Jordan Peele

By Alex Watson

Coming across as a socially conscious version of The Stepford Wives, Jordan Peele's horror-comedy Get Out is a remarkable piece of work. Magnificently creating an uneasy suspense, Peele's commentary on racial tensions in America gives both laughs and frights in equal measure. While the jump scares will be memorable, what's underneath the hood is more thought provoking. One part of comedy duo Key and Peele- this director is used to making us think. This effort, however, will have us reviewing everything on the way out.

Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is a photographer dating Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). This weekend they are heading to meet Rose's parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) for the first time. While the meeting initially goes well, Chris soon becomes bothered by the overly nice behaviour of the African-American servants. Also, Rose's mother seems keen on hypnotising him to rid him of a smoking habit! During a party where all the families affluent white friends seem to visit, Chris' worst fears will begin to surface.

From the very beginning of Get Out there is an uneasy sense that not everything is as it seems. Rose assures her Chris that his race will not be a problem and her father awkwardly tells him he would have voted for Obama to have a third term. What could have been your typical horror of mixed race couple been harassed by narrow-minded morons is smartly turned on its head. From the moment he arrives, he notices both the African-American servants are acting in a way that is troubling. While the family and their friends are welcoming, there is also a notion that he is being sized up for something. Peele's ensures that things are not only awkward to the extreme but that his audience is willing our hero to run away quickly.

While this is a smart commentary on race relations, Peele also blends a genuinely original and terrifying horror film. Throughout there are numerous scares which both spook us and provide nervous laughter. The side story of Chris's best friend Rodney who works for TSA provides the bulk of belly laughs. His attempt at explaining his theory about his friend's possible abduction to the authorities is just side-splitting. Rose's family from the outset come across as perhaps too accommodating towards Chris. Her brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), seems determined to make him like MMA while mother Missy's attempts to hypnotise him reeks of something sinister. While for the early part Chris politely accepts these misgivings, soon he becomes like an animal caught in a trap.

The big reveal might impress some but confuse other- nonetheless, it's an interesting twist. Impressively Peele scales back on frightening people in the movie's finale and instead focuses on making things as tense as possible. Even his death ideas are original- ever seen a man killed by a stag's head? Well ticked that one off the list in 2017. The tight and claustrophobic feel is one that builds to stifling levels. Peele emerges as a real talent during this excellently executed sequence but he also keeps our brains ticking as we mull over the messages he gives the audience. Get Out is a movie that is a very smart type of horror. With racism at a difficult stage in the US, this movie will inspire debate in the coming months.

British actor Daniel Kaluuya emerges a real talent as Chris and his gradual horror towards his situation is electric. At first happy to go along with the families behaviour, Kaluuya gives this character a wonderful paranoid edge from the moment he reaches the house. His character is one that always uses his head and due to these smarts, we hope he will find a way out. Allison Williams in her feature debut is also impressive. For those of us who have watched her in HBO series Girls, we are aware of her ability to play privileged people. In Peele's movie, her character unlike her slightly clueless family is appalled at the vulgarity on display and seems to share her partner's fear. Lil Rel Howery nearly steals the show with a vocal and charismatic turn as best friend Rodney.

Get Out is quite possibly the smartest horror film offering you will witness this year. On its social commentary alone this is essential viewing.