Child’s play

The Florida Project is a drama set in one of those cheap American motels occupied by poor people who would otherwise be homeless. It’s sad but not depressing, bleak but also joyful, and features one of the best and truest child performances you will ever likely see. Also, it is captivating without ever being condescending — I think. It is always so hard to know, but if you get too hung up on that, cinema will never be allowed to say that poverty exists, or deal with stories that don’t regularly get told, and that’s the end of my lecture for this week, you will be delighted to hear.

The movie is written and directed by Sean Baker, whose previous film, Tangerine, about a transgender sex worker, was shot on an adapted iPhone 5 and won many awards. Here, the setting is Orlando and the cheap motel is the Magic Castle, which is painted a loud, lurid mauve and is situated close to Disneyworld. (The American Dream, and those excluded from it? Just trying out a few thoughts here.)

Our main characters are six-year-old Moonee (the terrifyingly gifted Brooklynn Prince, who never hits a single false note) and her mother Halley, as played by Bria Vinaite, who has a touch of Courtney Love about her and was discovered on Instagram by Baker as he was doing his research. Both Prince and Vinaite are so unselfconscious it’s as if they are doing what they would be doing anyway, but it just so happens they are being filmed. The only recognisable face is Willem Dafoe, who plays Bobby, the kindly motel manager who keeps a paternalistic eye on all the residents. Initially, it is quite creepy seeing Dafoe not being creepy but you do get your eye in after a bit.

Willem Dafoe

At this point in the review I’d normally say this happens, then that happens, then this happens, and then we’d all go home, but The Florida Project isn’t like that.