The Grand Budapest Florida Hotel Project

The Florida Project is streaming for free on Amazon Prime right now and it's a sad and magical movie, a trashy, rundown, one-step-away-from-homeless version of The Grand Budapest Hotel . . . a six year old girl (Moonee) and her urchin-like friends have weird, slightly dangerous, and almost completely unmonitored adventures in the impoverished shadow of the Magic Kingdom, while Moonee's very young mom-- a tattooed recently unemployed exotic dancer-- tries to make ends meet; Willem Dafoe plays the hotel manager of the Magic Castle, a cheap hotel that mainly serves as way-station for folks that can't afford better housing, and his job is impossible-- especially when actual tourists show up and want to stay at the place; the movie's rhythm is the beat of a child's brain on summer vacation: every day is epic, every day is a chance to meet new people and do new things, then routines are established, and all of this is oblivious to the adult world, which is proceeding at a different, harsher pace . . . I loved it: ten ice cream cones out of ten.

7 comments:

rob said...

i loved it, too, but man was it hard to watch

Dave said...

i tried to focus on the joy of the children, despite the circumstances. i think my kids would loving living like that . . .

Al DePantsdowno said...

Watching it now. Good call.

Dave said...

once you're done, read about the ending . . .

Marls said...

Really good movie. As Rob noted, it’s hard to watch but it’s a harsh reminder of how many of us metaphorically helicopter past this kind of subsistence poverty everyday.

zman said...

As opposed to the handful of us who literally commute in helicopters.

Marls said...

In this movie, yes. Lots of helicoptering.

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