The Florida Project (2017)

The kids in this movie have the kind of freedom that I enjoyed as a child in the '70s: the kind of freedom that I thought didn't exist anymore. I'm not really sure it should exist, but it was kind of nice to see kids being messy and loud and naughty.

Moonee is a six-year-old handful and her mother is young and wild herself. The two live as long-term residents in a cheap motel just outside the Disney compound. Mom is trying to get hired on at a diner within walking distance, but has to hustle any way she can to make sure she and her daughter stay sheltered and fed.

This movie would be way too depressing if we didn't get a balanced look at their lives. This is a real community of people and when I wasn't on the verge of tears, I was often smiling at their familiar squabbles and the way they looked out for each other. Willem Dafoe as the long-suffering manager was just spectacular.

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