Looking back at this piece as a story it was an engaging film that, many times, had me enchanted and rooting for the characters. It is good without question, but what would have made it truly "great"?
The kids are, of course, "cute", but just can't justify quite that much screen time - they don't advance the story further at that level of coverage. I would reduce the long closeups by about 25-35%. I believe that was time that would have been better spent on building Willem Dafoe's character - his family context, his role in the outcome of the film. Alternatively, perhaps a more in depth character treatment of one of the children as opposed to "the children" as a group entity. As the "Manager", Dafoe was very good as always, but I would like to have seen him play a slightly more defining role in the story. The ending was intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying - it seemed abrupt and thin. The story builds to a climax that simply can't end well, but the audience is left hanging.
This film did a lot with $2,000,000 and seems to have been highly profitable. Sean Baker did what was no doubt a difficult and consuming job as Producer, Director, Screenwriter, and sole Editor, and all the awards and profits the film gathered do him justice. No doubt he'll be trusted with larger budgets going forward, and it will be exciting to see what comes next.
The kids are, of course, "cute", but just can't justify quite that much screen time - they don't advance the story further at that level of coverage. I would reduce the long closeups by about 25-35%. I believe that was time that would have been better spent on building Willem Dafoe's character - his family context, his role in the outcome of the film. Alternatively, perhaps a more in depth character treatment of one of the children as opposed to "the children" as a group entity. As the "Manager", Dafoe was very good as always, but I would like to have seen him play a slightly more defining role in the story. The ending was intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying - it seemed abrupt and thin. The story builds to a climax that simply can't end well, but the audience is left hanging.
This film did a lot with $2,000,000 and seems to have been highly profitable. Sean Baker did what was no doubt a difficult and consuming job as Producer, Director, Screenwriter, and sole Editor, and all the awards and profits the film gathered do him justice. No doubt he'll be trusted with larger budgets going forward, and it will be exciting to see what comes next.