The Florida Project (2017) Review

 Title: The Florida Project
Year: 2017
Director: Sean Baker
Country: US
Language: English

After Sean Baker's Anora won 5 Oscars at the 97th Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay) I decided to check out Baker's other works. On Best Pick Podcast, one of the co-hosts said that The Florida Project, was his better film, so I viewed that next. Baker's interest in exploring marginalized communities is very well highlighted in The Florida Project. I was very impressed by it - this film should have been very big during the 2017 Oscars. 

In this, a single mother (Bria Vinaite) and the manager (Willem Dafoe) of a roadside motel do their utmost to maintain the innocence of a six-year-old girl's (Brooklynn Prince) life.

The Florida Project depicts the "hidden homeless" of society - people who do not live in the streets, but lack stable housing. These cheap long-term motels, which do actually exist in the United States, are a constant source of stress for those who live in them due to the stress of housing insecurity. The social stratification in society - where economic and social resources are unevenly distributed - is very apparent in the setting of this film as the "hidden homeless" live on the outskirts of Disney World. There is clearly a divide between the poor locals & wealthy tourists, a conflict which comes up numerous times throughout its run-time. 

The title of the film has a double meaning. Walt Disney initially called Disneyworld "The Florida Project" as it was being built & "projects" typically refers to housing in low-income urban neighborhoods. Baker has these ideas clash & what we end up seeing is a remarkable film about childhood poverty & the failures of institutions. Baker also suggests that social policies may hinder those in marginalized communities and that the stigma of being poor may keep those in the lower class from progressing in society. 

The Florida Project is a really smart, well crafted, film that had me deep in introspection long after the film ended. I think, considering the current political climate - where billionaires who don't pay taxes are saying that the poor are "parasites"- we should cherish a work like this & frequently re-watch it to humble ourselves. 

Anora (2024) Review

 Title: Anora
Year: 2024
Director: Sean Baker
Country: US
Language: English

At the 97th Academy Awards, Sean Baker's Anora won five Oscars. These were Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. It was a very well liked film prior to the Oscars, having won Palm D'or at Cannes, but it wasn't really considered a front-runner until a few weeks prior to the show. I'm pretty happy that such a low budget movie won such a prestigious award. Made for $6 million, Baker proves that great storytelling can surpass big budget spectacles. 

In Anora, a young escort from Brooklyn (Mikey Madison) meets and impulsively marries the son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch Once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Written, Directed, and Co-Produced by Sean Baker, Anora is a film with relentless energy. Despite it being 2hr 30min, it feels like a film with half that run-time as we go from Cinderella fairytale to Slapstick comedy to meaningful reflection on capitalism & class division. Baker really pulls us into Anora's world - giving us an empathetic glimpse of a life of a sex worker on the fringes of society. We relate to her because we are the same working class trying to not be exploited by the careless 1%.

We also empathize with the hired goons, Igor (Yura Borisov) and Nick (Paul Weissmann), who are men also exploited by capitalism & have to disrupt Anora's marriage as part of their job. They are fairly non-violent, which adds to the escalating tension & funny-as-hell slapstick that permeates the middle of the film. They have to restrain Anora, while getting beaten up by her. This results in a broken nose, falls through the table. It feels very much like a Three Stooges routine. 

I was very impressed by Anora. it had me interested in Sean Baker's other works like The Florida Project (2017). Baker does a great job at highlighting marginalized people & bringing awareness to people who are lower class. After watching the film, I had a lot of thoughts regarding class, gender and how we can improve society for people like Anora. Baker has made an important film that, hopefully, will be regarded as a classic in the future. 

Every Best Picture Ranked (Best to Worst)

 Title: Every "Best Picture" Ranked (Best to Worst)

The 97th Academy Awards have come and gone. We have a new "Best Picture" in Sean Baker's Anora. I thought Conclave would win, but I'm happy to be wrong. Anora was a great film, that was equal parts comedy and tearjerker. In 2024 I made it a goal to watch EVERY Best Picture Winner. Sometimes this goal was easy, like watching Hitchock's Rebecca (1940), and sometimes it was a brutal slog, like having to watch Cimarron (1931). At the time I didn't do a Best Picture ranking, but with Anora's win I feel like finally writing one. So here it is: 

1. All About Eve (1950)
2. Casablanca (1942)
3. Schindler's List (1993)
4. Moonlight (2016)
5. West Side Story (1961)
6. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
7. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
8. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
9. The Apartment (1960)
10. The Godfather (1972)
11. The Godfather Part II (1974)
12. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
13. On the Waterfront (1954)
14. No Country for Old Men (2007)
15. Gone With the Wind (1939)
16. Parasite (2019)
17. Rebecca (1940)
18. Oliver! (1968)
    
19. Silence of the Lambs (1991)
20. My Fair Lady (1964)
21. Amadeus (1984)
22. An American in Paris (1951)
    
    
    
    
23. Hamlet (1948)
24. Tom Jones (1963)
25. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
26. The Departed (2006)
27. The Sound of Music (1965)
28. It Happened One Night (1934)
29. From Here to Eternity (1953)
30. Titanic (1997)
    
31. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
    
32. Return of the King (2003)
33. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
    
34. Anora (2024)
35. Unforgiven (1992)
36. Ordinary People (1980)
37. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
38. Annie Hall (1977)
39. Terms of Endearment (1983)
40. Marty (1955)
41. Rocky (1976)
42. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
43. Chariots of Fire (1981)
44. Chicago (2003)
    
    
    
    
45. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
46. The Deer Hunter (1978)
    
47. Braveheart (1995)
48. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
49. Oppenheimer (2023)
50. The Great Zeigfeld (1936)
51. Grand Hotel (1932)
52. 12 Years a Slave (2014)
53. Gladiator (2000)
54. The Lost Weekend (1945)
55. Nomadland (2020)
56. You Can't Take it With You (1938)
57. Gigi (1958)
    
    
    
    
58. The Sting (1973)
59. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
60. Spotlight (2015)
61. The French Connection (1971)
62. Wings (1927) 
63. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
64. Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
65. Forrest Gump (1994)
    
66. The Last Emperor (1987)
    
67. The Artist (2011)
68. American Beauty (1999)
69. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
70. The English Patient (1996)
71. Going My Way (1944)
    
    
    
    
72. Coda (2021)
73. The Broadway Melody (1929)
74. Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
75. The Shape of Water (2017)
76. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
    
77. Ben Hur (1959)
78. The Hurt Locker (2009)
79. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
80. Birdman (2014)
81. Argo (2012)
82. Rain Man (1988)
83. The King's Speech (2010)
84. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
85. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
86. Platoon (1988)
87. Patton (1970)
88. Gandhi (1982)
89. All the King's Men (1949)
90. Out of Africa (1985)
91. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) 
92. Dances with Wolves (1990)
93. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
94. Green Book (2018)
95. Crash (2005) 
96. Cavalcade (1933)
97. Cimarron (1931)