The Florida Project

Bobby’s establishment is called The Magic Castle, (partly to lure gullible tourists), and it sits in a very specific place, in the foothills of Walt Disney World; with discounted and knocked-off Mouse House merchandise being flogged all around in the strip malls.

Walt Disney World Resort, is an entertainment complex near Orlando and Kissimmee, Florida.

Halley and the other parents and grandparents are trying to raise children in the motels, chasing dreams that seem at once fanciful and mundane: celebrity, wealth, a steady job, a stable home.

“The Florida Project”, as it was known, was intended to present a distinct vision with its own diverse set of attractions.

Moonee is like a little modern-day Huck Finn, prowling round the purple walled motel with her friend Scooty and looking for adventure.

Walt Disney’s original plans also called for the inclusion of an “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” (EPCOT), a planned community intended to serve as a test bed for new city living innovations.

Characters may be living in poverty but sun shines most of the time. Moonee is so resilient and street smart that it’s easy to forget just how young and vulnerable she is. 
 
After extensive lobbying, the Government of Florida created the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special government district that essentially gave The Walt Disney Company the standard powers and autonomy of an incorporated city.

In its humour and its unforced and almost miraculous naturalism it reminds us of Ken Loach’s Kes or Bryan Forbes’s Whistle Down the Wind. 

Today, Walt Disney World is the most visited vacation resort in the world, with an average annual attendance of over 52 million, and is the flagship destination of Disney’s worldwide corporate enterprise.

Starring Willem Dafoe as Bobby,Brooklynn Prince as Moonie and Bria Vinaite as Halley.
Vibrant and brimming with vitality, this is empathic towards its subjects but fiercely critical of the system that victimizes them; the Florida Project is a must-see work – and one of the year’s best films.