Writer/director Sean Baker’s warm-blooded dissection of the operators & residents of a Florida ‘Welfare Motel’ in the Orlando tourist corridor is an uplifting downer. Willem Dafoe, patient, competent, even caring as manager of the garishly colored establishment (those hideous pastels are ‘real deal’ Florida, not commentary) may be too much the saint, but so well played you go with it. Baker helps him out by ignoring much of his soul crushing job duties to concentrate on how he deals with three sprites: wildly independent, unsupervised, adorable 6-yr-old holy-terrors. Left to their own devices by single parents struggling with problems of their own (low pay; lost jobs; weekly rent; mental instability; scams & turning the occasional ‘trick’), the film is at its best following these free-spirits thru their suburban playground of adventure & delight. Indulging in a childhood wanderlust blind to their skin-of-our-teeth existence; they’re pure ‘id,’ descendants of Huck & Tom, Penrod & Nancy Drew. Exhausting just to watch. But our engagement & emotional conflict turn to disappointment when Baker lurches into misapplied melodrama to end with a bang instead of an appropriate whimper. So desperate to ape Truffaut’s adolescent classic, THE 400 BLOWS/’59, he nearly scuttles his considerable achievement. (Tough language for our Family Friendly label, but a real eye-opener worth talking over.)
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: In addition to Truffaut, Baker seems strongly influenced by Belgian neo-realist filmmakers Luc & Jeanne-Pierre Dardenne. L’ENFANT/’05 is a good place to start. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/lenfant-2005.html
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