Hollywood likes to portray the state of Florida as a flashy, colorful, a city filled with sun, hot bodies, pure joy, and happiness. Films like Scarface, Magic Mike, Bad Boys and even the TV show and movie Miami Vice, presents a Florida as the place to be.
But in 2016 Barry Jenkins directed a film presenting another side of Florida, Moonlight is the story Chiron and his 3 stages of his life living a very difficult time. In a way, this movie connects in the same universe of Sean Baker's The Florida Project. This is the story of Six-year-old Moonee (Brooklyn Prince) who is living in the hotel Magic Castle with her mother Halley (Bria Vinaite), the hotel is close to Walt Disney World the ultimate scenario to presents social criticism against the stereotypical happy life that Disney always introduce to us.
Living in Magic Castle is not fun, is a hotel imitating the colors of flashy Florida, in a poor apartment complex, where guest lives paycheck to paycheck, it's probably close to living in a project in Chicago or New York. Moonee's friends are neighbors from other hotel rooms where parents work in dinners nearby, stealing food for their kids in order to have a decent meal, Moonee is a rascal like the other kids, they steal and misbehave. Magic Castle manager is Bobby Hicks (Willem Dafoe) a guy with a good heart who tries constantly to do his job, he sometimes becoming these kids caretaker and also the voice of consciousness to their parents.
Halley's skills as mother are not the best, she is always harassing tourist to sell them cheap perfume in order to pay the rent, unfortunately, business isn't doing that that well, so she ends up offering her service as a prostitute, which Bobby quickly discovered, as well some of the guests at Magic Castle.
Sean Baker breakthrough film Tangerine have similarities to The Florida Project, both have complex characters living in a place who treat them badly, the just try to survive, but destiny has something else in mind. This is a perfect cast for a powerful film about justice, love, and destiny.