THE FLORIDA PROJECT

Fantastic little movie, with brilliant camera work, writing, editing, directing, and acting. Willem Defoe, as the motel manager, is as likable and un-theatrical and fun to watch as he's ever been. And the two main leads—Bria Vinaite and Brooklyn Prince—as mother and daughter, create uniquely original characters, with Prince giving maybe the best performance in a movie this year. One of the main reasons to see the movie is her delightful, engaging, and at times poignant screen presence.

The film deals with some harsh realities so realistically, at times it felt like the actors weren't professionals and the dialogue and action was improvised. Perhaps it was, and some of them were (a lot of the actors, all sensational, don't have any other credits, or just one other).

The ending makes the movie's indictment of the contrast between Florida's Disney World promise and the struggling impoverished world that exists in that fantasy's shadow (a stand-in for the extreme inequality more and more prevalent in our social and economic systems) devastating yet transcendent. I resisted it at the screening last night, but it's still resonating for me, and I suspect it will continue to in the days and weeks to come. A true work of art.