This week the podcast takes on The Florida Project, the quietly devastating 2017 drama from Sean Baker, written with Chris Bergoch and starring Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, and a superb Willem Dafoe.
It’s six-year-old Moonee running feral through a budget motel in Kissimmee, Florida — living in the shadow of Walt Disney World while her mum scrambles to keep a roof over their heads.
It’s bright colours, sticky ice creams and childhood chaos… sitting right on top of poverty, instability and the constant threat of homelessness. Fantasy in the background. Hard reality in the foreground.
The episode? Off to a shaky start. The Aussie is coughing his lungs out. The Scotsman is demanding parental justice after his son Max slams a Bunnings trolley into his Achilles and claims it’s “Dad’s fault for swerving into his path”
Then the Aussie drops a jet ski story. Big mistake. The Scotsman quivers - PTSD alert.
That unleashes the Lysterfield BMX near-catastrophe, the proud (and very specific) claim of finishing third in butterfly at the Scottish Schools Swimming Championships, and an unexpectedly detailed breakdown of why freestyle is actually front crawl. There’s also a swim meet involving croup that probably should never have happened.
Interruptions start flying. The Aussie snaps. The Scotsman refuses to yield. The irony is not lost on anyone.
Eventually — somehow — they circle back to the film.
The Scotsman loved it. Properly loved it. He was bracing for backlash. The Aussie starts conflicted but ends up moved. Both land north of 4/5.
This one hits. The kids are phenomenal. Dafoe is restrained and human. The film doesn’t manipulate — it just sits there and lets you feel uncomfortable. It’s about growing up surrounded by manufactured magic while real life quietly unravels.
At one point, they seriously consider flying to America, driving Route 66 and taking the show on the road. That may or may not survive the edit.
Rohan Reminisces returns to 2017. He’s on time. That’s the good news. The rest? Needs work.
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