For ordinary audiences, the title of "Florida Paradise" seems too plain, but some routine children's films are more popular, but those are not top grades, this one is top grade. The excitement of this film completely attracted me in just 3 minutes of the opening. The protagonist, the little girl, Moni, suffocated her milk and shouted "You are shit" when I almost spit out the rice. If you can watch this movie carefully, you will get a lot of surprises and touches.
Moni
At the beginning, the audience may have a misunderstanding of Moni, thinking that she is a vulgar and evil slum child, and the process of explaining the misunderstanding in the film is exactly the process by which the character of Moni becomes cute. Moni's first crime was that she spit on a middle-aged woman's car at the beginning of the film and scolded others. After being asked to settle the account, she happily ran to wipe the car for others, and played while wiping, which made people laugh and laugh. This plot tells everyone that Moni is just a naughty child. The owner's granddaughter Janice finally became a good friend of Moni, and the two of them contributed the biggest tear point in the film at the end of the film. The director planted a seed of friendship at the beginning of the film, and by the end of the film it had grown into a forest.
Moni’s second crime was that she took her small partner to close the main gate of the entire hotel. The hotel manager Bobby did 3 hours of excel form and didn’t save it (you should know what it feels like hahaha), I was so angry that I came to the door to settle the account and asked her mother and daughter to pay for 3 hours of overtime. Moni said I had no money. Bobby was in a 10,000 grassy mud horse... Bobby went on to say that she threw it into the swimming pool. Dead fish, Moni explained that throwing dead fish was for experimentation. Bobby's mood increased to 20,000 horses and mud horses. His helpless expression really made me laugh. One of the worst things Moni has ever done was that she brought her friends to play with fire. She did not expect to burn the drug addict’s house. The people crowded around and applauded. Only then did we know: Oh, so everyone had to bear it. It's been a long time. The director portrays Moni as a harmless weed that grows toward the sun. The details of her daily life are full of innocence and innocence, making people feel green and lovely, innocent and innocent.
As the plot progresses, it can be found that Moni also has an emotional side. When she saw a female tourist crying in a hurry, she told her little friend that the person was about to cry. This sympathy made people feel very precious; in front of the burning house, Moni was guilty of conscience and looked embarrassed; Her mother was prostituting at home. When she realized that a strange man was coming, the camera caught her confused eyes; her mother's prostitution was exposed, and she was nauseous and vomiting in the bathroom. Moni asked her mother what's wrong with you. At the end of the film, Moni will be forcibly taken away by the government children’s agency. She goes to say goodbye to her little friend and wishes her mother a speedy recovery, but the mother of her little friend did not wait to see her before; , She fled to Janice’s house and cried and said, "This may be the last time I saw you, goodbye". She always laughed cutely in the front, but was moved by surprise at the back. This scene almost made me tears. Come down.
Harley
Moni's mother Harley is a single mother, but she is more like an older sister. When Moni closed the main gate of the hotel and was called by the manager to settle the account, Harley asked with a look of disgust, "Fuck, are you doing something bad again"; when Moni got his pillow dirty and talked back At that time, Harley retorted, “You can use a pillow to wipe your hands, but can you wash it yourself?” When Harley’s promotion of perfume was confiscated by security, Moni asked why he didn’t go back, Harley did not Just like our Chinese parents scolded the children, but explained to the children as an equal. Harley and Moni have both mother-daughter affection and friendship like friends. The interaction between the mother and daughter of life treasure makes the film always on the cheerful tone, and inadvertently mixed with sadness and moving. The most beautiful scene in the film is always the sunset in Florida. It is indistinguishable from the lives of the rich and the poor. The sunset scenes appear twice in the film. Once when the mother and daughter were living on the street because the hotel price increased by $10, Harley led her daughter to curse and leave the hotel. They walked into the sunset in the backlight. With the camera switching, Janice's family generously took them in. This kind of plot arrangement made the audience breathe a sigh of relief. After all, there are still people in this world who can treat them kindly.
Another time, Harley led her daughter and Janice on the road at dusk, when the Florida sunset had just fallen to the horizon. Harley may not think how beautiful this evening is, she just walked happily with the children, giving her thumbs up along the way, hoping to meet a ride with her and the children. The hardships of life are so carelessly faded away. We don’t have to worry about them too much, because no matter how bad life is, they seem to be happy all the time, and the difficulties seem to be solved in the end.
As a vagrant single mother, Harley took her daughter to the entrance of a luxury hotel to sell perfume, but was found by security and fled in embarrassment. At this time, Moni couldn't keep up, and said: Mom, we have all been walking for a long time. After hearing this, Harley silently carried Moni on his back and walked forward, striding with the inner character, with a heartbreaking weakness. This scene makes people think that many girls on campus walk like this, but Harley is under cruel pressure at an age when she should be enjoying the happiness of girls. This lens is full of speechless power, and it is one of the most touching shots of all the movies I have ever seen.
Harley is a charming character who makes people look forward to her appearance all the time, and her appearance often brings a different feeling to people. She had a conflict with the hotel manager. The hotel manager threatened her three times to kick her out of the hotel if she didn’t get out of the lobby. Unexpectedly, Harley would be obedient this time. When I was wondering, she suddenly got out of her panties. Pulling out the sanitary napkin and sticking it to the door, this scene is hilarious and can be called a classic. Harley used to be a dignified woman. She despised the act of betraying the flesh. She was fired at work for refusing to provide sexual services. In the United States, it is difficult for a girl like her with previous convictions to find a problem once she loses her job. As a result, she lost her financial resources; she went to the hotel to sell perfume and was confiscated by the security guards, leading to bankruptcy. In the end, she finally embarked on the prostitution road she once despised. She stole a client’s Disney bracelet (a bracelet several hundred dollars) when she was in prostitution. The client found the thing was stolen the next day and asked her to settle the account. When asked how it was stolen, he had no face to answer, angrily gone. Here, the audience hates the client, not Harley who stole something. For Harley, the cruelest consequence of prostitution is that she loses custody of her daughter. The government’s children’s agency ruled that Harley was not qualified to be a mother and had to take her daughter away. When she realized that this day was approaching, she took her daughter to eat the last big meal. The film gave a shot in which she silently watched her daughter eat while smoking, concealing her inner pain. This was the only time this comedy character showed sorrow in the film. This contrast renders a strong tragic color. This shot reminds us that Harley is at least a mother who loves her daughter very much.
Bobby Although Bobby looks like a villain, he is actually the most decent character in the film. For the mischief of Moni and her little friend, the retaliatory action he took was just staring at them eating ice cream in the hall. The two kids licked the ice cream and provoked him bashfully. As long as the ice cream doesn't drip on the floor, Bobby can't do anything to them. As a result, the ice cream dripped on the floor, and Bobby immediately blasted them out of the hall. The confrontation between the adult and the child made people laugh. Or maybe when Moni went to hide under Bobby's table when he was hide and seek, Bobby sold her out, Moni complained, "Don't bring this, Bobby", and the subtitles vividly translated it for this The play adds another layer of joy.
Bobby feels like a good person who walked into the movie from real life. His strong sense of responsibility is amazing. His kindness and strictness are in sharp contrast. She always loves these poor children. When he saw a suspicious old man approaching the children, he immediately became alert, and finally he drove away the old man who was going to molest the children with great majesty. For Harley and Moni mother and daughter, he never lost his goodwill, did not point out their behavior, Harley and Moni never regarded Bobby as a real enemy. Although the mother and daughter were making trouble for him all day, when they became homeless because of the $10 price increase in the hotel, he hurried over without even having time to put on his coat. The footage of him wearing his clothes while walking on the road made him feel homeless. I am very impressed. Bobby left the audience with the impression of fairness and integrity, and he is a respectable and trustworthy character. Therefore, the audience will tend to judge the people and things in the film through his perspective. In fact, Bobby represents the moral position of authority in the film. When we heard Bobby say to Harley, "If you go to work, who will take care of Moni", we can tell Harley why she stays at home all day instead of going out to work, and how she ended up in prostitution. Express understanding. It’s not that Harley’s unemployed staying at home or going into prostitution is unquestionable, but the director hopes to provide the audience with a perspective through the character of Bobby: can we try to understand Harley’s situation?
director
Director Sean Baker showed incredible talent in this film. He was able to shoot a large number of children's scenes throughout the film so vividly and naturally, even better than "The Tree of Life". If he just set up the camera and waited for the actor to improvise and finish the work, it doesn't seem to be a talent. Although there are also improvisational elements in it, you should know that except for William Dafoe, the other roles are played by amateur actors. It is a miracle to make the film achieve the natural effects seen now. Moreover, to accomplish this miracle, the director must also have Bole's vision and be able to find a suitable person from the vast crowd to play the role. It is conceivable that the above difficulty can be achieved. "Florida Paradise" is different from ordinary Hollywood movies. It can be said to be an anti-genre movie in terms of theme and plot setting. In "Treasure", which is also a slum-themed film, what the audience feels is revelation and accusation, but "Florida Paradise" is not this kind of film; in "When Happiness Knocks," various inspirational chicken soups , But "Florida Paradise" is not this kind of film either. In "Florida Paradise", it is difficult to find the familiar segments in previous movies. For example, when a wretched old man appears, we think that a child might be sexually assaulted, but the result is not; we guess that there may be a bloody love story between Bobby and Harley, but the result is not; the end of the film Moni escaped, the camera followed her all the way, followed her across the hotel, across the bridge, across the road. We thought there might be a car accident, but it didn't happen. She just came to her best friend Janice to say goodbye. She stood at the door of Janice’s house, crying that she was about to leave. After Janice understood it, she took her hand and ran all the way. They rushed all the way to the thrilling music and came to a bustling place they never dared to imagine. Disneyland. The story was supposed to end in tragedy, but the director chose to freeze it at the most beautiful moment, once again warming the hearts of the audience and moistening the eyes of the audience.
The filming of "Florida Paradise" was so beautiful that I couldn't believe its director was a middle-aged uncle in his forties. Tracing back to the director's creative trail, in 2008, the movie "Prince of Broadway" he created at his own expense, had a shabby box office of only 20,000 US dollars. In 2017, when he had the powerful Hollywood actor William Dafoe and a budget of 2 million US dollars, he shot a masterpiece, won the best director of the New York Film Critics Association, and won 54 million. Dollar box office. The emergence of "Florida Paradise" brought a clear stream to the film industry in 2017. This small-cost fringe character movie did not get the favor of Oscars, but it did not detract from the weight of the film in my mind. It is the movie that impressed me the most in the past two years, none of it. The director took us to look at the colorful slum scene in Florida with kind eyes, and let us know that there are still such people in this world, living such a life, with such a kind of warmth and love.
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