‘The Florida Project’ Cannes Review: Unruly Kids Steal the Show in Heartbreaking Drama

He shot that movie on his iPhone on the streets of Hollywood for about $100,000; it grossed almost $1 million, earned four Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations and four Gotham Awards nominations.

Both are set in communities that have been marginalized, and both deal with people who are struggling to survive in the face of economic obstacles and public indifference, if not hostility.

In “Tangerine,” it was a community of drag queens and transgender hookers along Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood; in “The Florida Project,” it’s homeless families on the outskirts of Orlando who find temporary lodging in the cheap motels that might have sprung up to cater to tourists who can’t afford Disney’s Grand Floridian.

All furious energy and abrasive exuberance, they recruit a third marauder, Jancey, through the classic getting-to-know-you gambit of drenching her mother’s car in spit.

Neophyte actress Bria Vinaite plays Moonee’s mom Halley, a tattooed hellcat stripper who by the end of the movie is regularly sending Moonee into the bathroom to take long baths while Halley turns tricks in the other room.

For most of the film’s running time, it doesn’t really go anywhere; the kids run around causing trouble, the adults do what it takes to survive, and “The Florida Project” floats from one episode to another, treading water but with furious abandon.