Best Films of the 2010s: The Florida Project

Lists are beautiful. Films are beautiful. Opinions are subjective. Some films that we see now- some made for kids, some made in other languages, some made in 'trashy' genres- will one day become classics. Which ones? Here's my entirely subjective gaze into the crystal ball with my picks of the best films of the 2010s...

The Florida Project

 

This film’s keynote is the raw and heady joy of being left as a kid to roam without adult supervision. It is poignant and ironic that some of the poorest parts of America lie within a stone’s throw of Disney World; this is the world The Florida Project explores. An Orlando strip-motel is the most American of underworlds, painted like pop art with eye-smacking purples and oranges. Six year old  Moonee is our joyous tour guide (‘this man gets arrested a lot…this woman thinks she’s marriaging Jesus’), the kind of kid destined to be labelled a ‘bad influence’, swearing and starting fires, dripping sass and melted ice cream wherever she goes with her friends. Spitting on cars is fun, washing that spit up is fun when washing up liquid s transformed into water guns. The camera is situated at the kids’ eye level drawing us into their perspective.

     The kids’ world is plotless: their summer break is a blank canvas to paint (or spit) on. Structure is provided by the adult world of Moonee’s mother Halley which runs concurrently: the weekly grind of hustle and rent. Some of the best acting of the decade comes from first timer Bria Vinaite as Halley, whom the director spotted on Instagram. She is an affectionate and fun mother but has a defiant, sharp face ready for the rest of the world which has messed with her plenty. Also I 100% envy her pink-green hair and it would be dishonest if I didn't mention this. Brooklynn Prince as Moonee should with any justice end the careers of a raft of cutesie child actors. These two actresses together convince utterly as single mother and daughter, and it is one of the most joyful relationships I’ve seen in a movie. The final act of the film, though, will threaten this bond. The Florida Project sends the viewer into that place between laughter and tears where the world seems painted in particularly vivid colours.

Next Time: less Mickey Mouse, more Iranian psychodrama.