18th Mofo Hall of Fame

The Florida Project (2017)

A really beautiful and honest take on poverty. It doesn't have a traditional narrative, we're just shown some days into the life of people who live on a basic income or social welfare, as if it was a documentary.
I could talk about the colours of this film, which are stunning, or the great acintg by everyone envolved (my respect for Dufoe has been growing and growing these past couple of years), or even the cool soundtrack, but I think that would be missing the point, because this film has such a strong message that anything that gets in the way of fullying absorbing it is not really important to talk about.
I absolutely love the way how Hailey and Moonee stories are conected. As hard as it is to feel sorry for Hailey we can totally see Moonee becoming just like her and there's not really much she can do about it. It's like seeing the past, the present and the future at the same time and coming to the conclusion that free will might not exist after all, and that's what I think is the main message of this film.
Beautiful nom, and one of the favourites to the top of my list for sure!

+

Ah so glad you liked it Neiba!

Good write-up, neiba! The underlying grimness of this otherwise colorful looking film is definitely one of the strong points of the film.

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I liked it, but I wouldn't call it a honest take on poverty, myself. More like a TV reality show's take on poverty. Which is OK, as it's a fictional movie and movies don't have to be real as life to be good. I think the film succeeded in doing what the film intended to do. I enjoyed the vibrant colors and interesting style of open narrative/you are there...type of film making. But I sure didn't see this as some ultimate truth. No offense, but since joining MoFo I've realized people, including myself, make our own truths out of the films we see.

I don't see neiba as trying to somehow lay out the only truth about this movie or try to state the one and only definitive answer on it.

He did say "I think" more than one time and when he didn't it sounded more like him trying to make sense of what he saw and what he thought it all meant.

Writing reviews is kind of like seeking the truth and meaning in films and no matter how objective you try to be it will always be a subjective thing in the end and sharing one view is part of a multi-view discussion to possibly follow and that is part of the forum formula.

Agreed...that's why I included myself as having my own reality/personal truth from my own viewing experience. So personally I seen Florida Project as more of an insight into the director's mindset with his choice of colorful shooting locations and even more colorful people. My only complaint about the movie was the Disney ending.

Ah, okay. It just sounded like you replied to neiba as somehow being wrong or at least wrongly writing out what is essentially just an opinion. So I got a bit confused is all.

Now on the topic of discussion,, I personally see both of your perspectives in the movie. I do think the movie is like a glimpse into the life of these people and right in the moment. We really do drop in on this reality for these people, which has the fun contrast of the colors making it seem wonderful on the outside while showing us the cold hard truth on the inside. I may not have felt the “reality tv” kind of feel you did CR, but I did feel like it was a bit “off” sometimes. I didn’t buy into it all as 100% honest life and documentary-like: even for the “filmed in moments” type stylistic choice, it still felt too set-up either story-wise or (moslty) thematically for what it wanted to say and put forward.

Well we've got four completely reviewed films...as Brimstone, The Florida Project, The Little Stranger and Road to Perdition has now been completed

Abandon Ship 10/12
Brimstone 12/12
Bubba Ho-Tep 12/12
Extremely Loud and Incredible Close 7/12
The Florida Project 12/12
The King of Comedy 11/12
The Little Stranger 12/12
Perfect Blue 9/12
Road to Perdition 12/12
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 12/12
Split 11/12
The Square 11/12

we now just have 12 reviews left to go with about 40% of those being Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reviews

Road to Perdition is a five star movie to me, it's a film with a textual richness while also being visually stunning. I watched this along with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close but what is interesting is the dichotomy of the two films and where they stray away from each other. In Perdition the son is very much a normal boy and he's given the character of a strong protagonist. While he is the impetus for the plot he never really changes (which I appreciate).

Mendes does incredible things with color where you start off at different stages of darkness until you get the build to ultimate bleakness but yet the ending is one of complete light...which is then dramatically undercut. It's the little things like that which I really value in a film like this.

You also have a collection of small scenes that are just so vivid and well made where you have scenes of powerful tension, action, and sentimentality. It is evocative of Spielberg's early work where everything is just so well polished and thought through. Finally one of the things I noticed about this film (and really my top three) is how well the filmmaker illustrates the passing of time. This is a road trip film where you aren't constantly being confronted with obstacles that would keep the narrator from their final destinations. This is a film that could have been told in 30 minutes or 12 hours and to me that is the sign of a well paced film this could have been edited or expanded and it still would have been great.

So I need those reviews, all should be doable the deadline is Friday if any of you need an extra week just let me know

I'm good. They'll be in by then

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Perfect Blue - I'm going to make this quic because I am way behind. I thought it was interesting. I usually don;t like animated but this was at least challenging because while it was annoying and loud and screechy in areas, it also had mood and intrigue. There's a blu ray coming out of it and I may just hop on it to so I can see it again with a better presentation, but yeah, man - not too shabby.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - I love Hnks but this is just another one of his squishy and naggymovies where I'm supposed to be moved. I couldn't be moved because the main character was bereft of anything I could latch onto. I found myself squirming a lot because I was underwhelmed and kept thinking that I'd rather be watching Lone Wold McQuade or soemthing. No offense, but wasn't my cup of tea. Sidenote - I remember when 911 happened. I was at work, and the manager put a tv set out in the warehouse for us all to watch and keep up. That moved me.

Abandon Ship is left, and I will try to have it done by Friday!

@Siddon

I just realized I forgot my PC charger at home and I will be traveling till Saturday. Would it be ok to ask for a extra day or 2? I am almost finishing Abandon Ship (dead battery interrupted it) and then only Perfect Blue left.

Saving the best for last

Man, this film throws everything at you with an appalling lack of subtlety. Supported by a score which may as well be generic emotional music #2. A desperate cry on cue mantra. Please cry here. Please cry there. Holding a message from a dying man at the heart of 9/11 over the head of the audience like some emotional pull just made me cringe when that moment is meant to hit the hardest. And that's how I found myself reacting to each clunky emotional moment.

You get quirky precocious obnoxious Oskar who I am meant to have such sympathy for despite him feeling like an alien robot or flips to characters who wouldn't you know it have such heart-breaking stories of their own to tell. I get the sense that Stephen Daldry sees poignancy in how this is directed but I thought it was awkward more than anything. I didn't buy into the overdone sentiment or melodramatics being presented here. Considering that's the main pull of this movie as there's nothing else that's noteworthy about it, the experience fell flat. The bait concept, Hanks, Von Sydow and Bullock coming off her Oscar win yells awards contender. I'm not surprised by its buzz on that basis but I feel the cast is dragged down by the material.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one of the worst best picture nominees I've seen. I'd have to actually check every best picture nominee to confirm if it is my least favourite but it's right up there.

Split is a film that if you take some of its visuals out of context I would be impressed but they're strung together in a complete mess of crap. Filled with some of the goofiest bizarre plotting, acting and dialogue that you will see. The main cast are all painful to listen to and make little to no sense. So many bizarre random ass camera angles are thrown at you throughout the film that are clearly meant to be somewhat disorienting but I just thought they were incredibly irritating instead. The last five minutes did make me laugh a couple of times for the sheer WTF IS GOING ON.

Other people are right in that it feels like a hallucinogenic experience and I suspect that I would only like this in those circumstances. There's an utter lack of investment there for me and I couldn't even invest myself in what I was watching to revel in how silly it is.

No reprieve for Split from me I'm afraid.

What a double bill that was.

Hope you didn’t pay a single pill for it though!

oh man, don't even..extremely loud wasn't even in the same universe as split lol..oh wait..you mean you hated both. Gotcha

Unfortunately, no pills were taken. Those three and a half hours are cemented in the memory. Never to be forgotten.