This is my first Sean Baker film and I was impressed with the realism that he projects. I live in the Orlando area and easily recognize a lot of the buildings. So many before me posted a synopsis of the movie, so I won't bore you with that - just a few thoughts from an area local. If you have Amazon Prime you can watch this for free and I highly recommend that you set aside a couple of hours to do that.
We watched it this weekend and were blown away by the genuine authenticity of the area surrounding Disney World that most "tourists" will never see. There is a lot of poverty in and around Disney and Orlando and a lot of people who live in these older motels that were once the main tourist hotels before Disney started isolating their guests by building Disney only hotels on property. What's so sad is that because they are hotels, the families that live there are technically considered homeless. Even worse, I have actually known families here just like this. While watching, I was wondering if they would address the problem of pedophilia and I'm glad that they didn't omit this from the movie, because it is a growing problem. In case you don't know, there are A LOT of pedophiles in Florida (not sorry tourism industry).
I really liked the way that Mr. Baker addressed the irony of the fact that Moonee and her mom were in such a struggle for sheer survival that, although they lived in the shadow of Disney World, they couldn't afford to go and enjoy it as so many can. Yet, Moonee didn't seem to mind - she never really seemed to "feel" poor.
It was cool to see all of the authenticity in this movie, from the Tastee Freeze building to the tourist helicopters. And the story itself was so well written and acted that you almost forget that it is just a movie.
And the ending? We're still analyzing the symbolism in the ending. Enjoy!
Review of The Florida Project
