Gray ordinariness of sunny Florida A poster with a happy family, a lot of scenes with cute entertainment of mother and daughter, their care for each other - everything in the film tries to evoke empathy for this incomplete family, make the viewer appease and sympathize. But there's something wrong. It's not working. At all.
You can't sympathize with a careless mother who acts like cattle. Who leads men to herself without being shy of her daughter, who wipes her feet about those who do her good, who rudely insults everyone and rudely repels those who try to help her. She justifies herself with the fact that she has such a difficult life, but at the same time she does nothing to improve her situation, and her rudeness and selfishness only brings new problems to herself. She loves her daughter and takes care of her as best she can. But she's disgusting. Therefore, when at the end of the film in her life there is a quite logical tragedy, it does not cause sympathy or pity for her, which the director diligently tries to squeeze out of the audience. Rather, satisfaction from the fact that the obscurity of the heroine’s behavior led to a natural result. This short but boring movie is finally over.
You can't please kids. The active and cheerful daughter of the main character tries to imitate her mother as much as she can and grows up as a little bum. No one is particularly engaged in her upbringing and education, so her childhood pranks often turn into petty mischiefs. And then they're pretty big. And the fact that she gets away with vile behavior and the director makes her look like an innocent victim of circumstance doesn't make her any more likable.
Acting is the only thing the film can be praised for. The expressiveness and appearance of Bria Vinite make her character bright and memorable. Even on the negative side. The kids look very lively. But Willem Dafoe, nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe for his role in this film, disappointed. He's a great actor, but he doesn't have anything to play here. His hero is furniture. Walking and speaking, but in the plot and in the life of the heroine performing the same functions as a ladder or door. His character is devoid of individuality, of his own history. And that's disappointing.
So is the movie. The main characters are disgusted, the plot, which consists of meaningless walks and conversations and has only one at least any significant event, is boring. And in general, the film evokes a feeling of some gray dull routine. Even though it takes place in sunny Florida.
2 out of 10
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