Sean Baker is known as one of the directors who pay the most attention to the poor and the disadvantaged. This is probably his most distinctive personal label.
Illegal Chinese immigrants in New York in "Takeaway", "Rose To Be Bloomed" came to San Fernando Valley and hoped to become a down-and-out girl who wanted to become an actor, "Orange" dreams of transgender workers in Hollywood, and "Florida Paradise" does not guarantee three meals Mother and daughter.
But this stubborn director who was not welcomed by the academy (in the just-concluded Oscar, "Florida Paradise" was only nominated for Best Supporting Actor), and he is different from other peers who love the same theme.
He did not show the life and attitudes of the people at the bottom condescendingly to the society, but recorded it from a head-up angle. The rudeness, unruffled, blackmail and arrogance of these people at the bottom were all accepted by him without prejudice. The academy that doesn't eat the fireworks dare not touch it.
Sean Baker empathizes with their plight, understands their evil but doesn't condone them, and stays in them all the time. Only in this way can they promote a positive change with a true, comprehensive and optimistic attitude.
Compared with the rather crude and original "Orange" (2015) and "Blooming Rose" (2012), "Florida Paradise" has obviously taken a big step forward in terms of production and texture.
The screenwriter, director, art and photography are absolutely above the nomination strength, not to mention the amazing little actors in it. Especially the little girl Brooklynn Prince starring in Moonee , the natural wildness and freedom of children, a smile can touch the hearts of the audience.
Of course, Brooklynn is still young, and the performance in the film may be more attributed to the director (and performance coach Samantha ) for scheduling and tuning, but the contribution to the work within the scope of the film content is also higher than that of Tiancha’s contribution to "Please The influence of "Call Me by Your Name".
The Florida Project originally refers to the Disney East Coast Diversion Project built in Orlando, central Florida. Near the world's largest man-made paradise, there are countless paradise fakes in the shadow between the sun and the huge magic castle.
The three-story economic hotel Motel in Florida, called Magic Castle , is the magic castle in the life of the six-year-old Moonee.
Here she is a princess who despises everyone, with her mother Halley who allows her, Bobby the hotel manager who silently guards her , and the little friends who "do evil" and play together in threes and twos, full of willfulness, freedom and the unquenchable childhood vitality. Scooty and Dicky are her most loyal warriors, and J ancey is her most beautiful princess sister.
Not far from her magic castle, is another urban project in Florida, Disneyland, a magic castle built with money.
The joy that Disneyland brings to those children who can get started with a ticket is no more than what economic hotels bring to Moonee ; it is also a beautiful castle that escorts dreams. The former is not stronger than the latter. Reality fell apart and collapsed.
Sean Baker is probably the director who likes and is good at shooting poverty and fringe themes, partly because the director himself is also poor. When filming poverty-related themes, most directors will unconsciously fall into the trap of romanticizing poverty pictures, giving the audience a kind of "the world is not lacking in beauty, but lacks the vision to discover beauty". In fact, some life is true. It is desperate, without the beauty of life.
But Sean Baker uses a lens that is almost indifferent to justice to restore this desperate life trapped in poverty. The whole movie follows Moonee ’s vision and pace on the one hand (correctly speaking, it should be a headache of all kinds. (Laughter and Hu Peng call friends) to explore this magical castle scorched by the blazing Florida sun, on the other hand, coldly use various details to show the audience what a hopeless life is.
Moonee 's life was destined to go down from the beginning.
This kind of despair is not a critically ill, critical moment that appears in movies or life, but life itself is the word despair, and the breath of lingering breath is permeated 24 hours a day.
From the moment Moonee was born, poverty and downfall had long been embedded in her DNA, but she was too young to be aware of it. What's more frightening is that after she grows up, she will not be able to detect the fate hidden in this DNA, just like her striptease mother Halley .
Halley is a terrible mother. Although she did not abuse Moonee , and even tried to "make money" so that Moonee could cover her head and eat, she was still a terrible mother.
She took Moonee to a friend’s restaurant to make trouble, threw something on the street and lost her temper, peddled cheap perfume to residents in the parking lot of a nearby hotel, made a big noise at the hotel’s front desk, stole tourists, went to the hotel to cheat and drink, and even took M Oonee is trapped in the bathroom and makes money from prostitution at home (although he can't do it).
Terrible? horrible. But here, it is not uncommon. When you are tired of running around for three meals, morality and self-cultivation are not a matter at all.
The dazzling purple, pink, and blue buildings of "Florida Paradise" make people feel chilling. The rare warmth in the film comes from the hotel manager Bobby .
Although he has repeatedly threatened to drive Halley out of the hotel, he is always caring for and guarding the poor residents in this hotel. Tolerating their late payment of rent, guarding their unattended children when their parents are away, and driving away the perverts around them , Bobby is more like a guardian of this group of vagrants who do not know what to do than parents like Halley . .
When Moonee escaped from the social workers and Halley yelled F*ck you , the despair and helplessness almost rushed out of the screen, grabbing the audience's hearts tightly. This scene is considered to be the most powerful ending that "Florida Paradise" can have, but it is clear that all viewers are wrong.
The smooth shots of "Florida Paradise" made people almost forget that this was Sean Baker 's work, but in the end Jancey took the crying Moonee to the happiest place in the world, following the shaking hands behind them. The sense of the camera suddenly pulled us back to the seemingly colorful Hollywood Boulevard in "Orange", back to the corner of the cold war between transgender workers Sin-Dee and Mya .
It can be seen on the big screen that there is a very obvious difference between this section and the previous shot. The section running towards the castle in Disneyland was actually shot by the director with the iPhone 6S , because if you want to use professional shooting equipment, you must Disney applies, and the iPhone is allowed.
This violates the regulations to some extent, but it is still within the scope permitted by law. As a non-famous film crew, it is much more difficult than everyone thinks to apply for a shooting license from Disney. The so-called filming team composed of a director, a director, an assistant, a few children and a child’s guardian is less likely to successfully apply.
In order to keep a low profile and avoid being expelled by the park management, the filming crew of the day (when there were no people before) was streamlined again, leaving only the director Sean Baker , the screenwriter Bergoch , the photographer Alexis Zabe , the performance coach Samantha Quan , and the two A young actor Prince and Cotto and their guardians.
Poverty does not limit the creativity of the filming team.
Regarding the last scene, Baker did not make too many interpretations. He hoped to leave more room for this imagination to the audience.
Within the scope of her ability, Moonee used children's unique imagination to create happiness that shouldn't exist. She made the entire hotel a Disney magical castle.
Ca n't go to the animal farm, but will take Jancey around the hotel to watch the cows grazing on the grass, treating this limited grassland as a distant prairie. She has no way to enter the haunted house, but she can also be in the abandoned building. Start your own adventure in here.
And in the end, after the previous horse grabs, Moonee was forced to rush into this fictional and very real fantasy paradise. But we all know that she will not find real happiness and happiness there. She will never truly have the smiles on the faces of those tourists.
"Orange", which uses transgender sex worker Sin-Dee to find and confront her boyfriend after being released from prison, has been very dramatic in script writing. In 88 minutes, it also added a human flesh junior, my friend Mya nightclub performance, and a deep cabinet gay driver. Razmik 's beauty hunting trip (this section is really funny).
All the story lines broke out in a small shop called "Doughnut Time". The rhythmic soundtrack made it easier for the audience to enter the drama, and the viewing and entertainment was relatively stronger.
But "Florida Paradise" is more endearing, because Sean Baker has paved the screen with various details from the beginning of the film to set off the despair of the magic castle.
When watching for the first time, the audience will be easily attracted by Moonee and her friends' various pranks, shocked by Halley’s terrible parenting methods, moved by Bobby’s seemingly strict but warm guardian Confused by the gorgeous soundtrack.
The Blu-ray version of the DVD released by Lionsgate is even better. Because the film is no longer shot with an iPhone like "Orange" , but with 35 mm film film (mostly), the colors will be more vibrant after the Blu-ray conversion, and the details will be clearly visible. The monorail is also fairly well handled.
More importantly, the Blu-ray DVD version is accompanied by a nearly 1 hour behind-the-scenes documentary, including some of the behind-the-scenes footage and on-site interviews, allowing people to have a more intuitive view of how the film is being filmed and how the actors enter the role. learn.
Although the results at the Oscars are disastrous, "Florida Paradise" can be said to be rave reviews in various independent film circles, and the audience's reputation is also good, mainly reflected in the relatively good box office results. The 2 million filming cost has gained more than 7 million. Box office revenue.
Shooting a high-budget commercial blockbuster seems to be a very reasonable next step for Sean Baker . After all, with such reputation and strength, it is not difficult to attract investors' eyes. This is also the usual path to fame for most independent film directors.
But Baker 's concern for the poor and disadvantaged in the United States did not intend to make way for business. He mentioned in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter a few days ago:
It is still impossible for me to immediately take over the shooting of a blockbuster with a budget of more than 20 million yuan. I will probably stay in the same studio and continue to create some works that focus on character story-driven works.
But of course the premise is that Sean Baker can afford his rent.
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