The Florida Project

The film revolves around a half-dozen characters, most of them semi-permanently, all of them living in a roadside strip-motel in Orlando. Three of them are children: six-year-old Moonee, her buddy Scooty and a new friend called Jancey, who lives in the “Futureworld” complex behind theirs, and whose first run-in with the pair is unpromising: she has the bad luck to be standing below them during a spitting contest. Moonee is one of the sweariest and funniest six-year-old characters you could hope to meet in pictures. Her dialogue is hysterically rude, smart, snappy and get-out-of-town. She’s a terrible influence on her friends, scamming strangers for ice cream money and setting fire to entire condo blocks while running around unsupervised.
Most of the grief settles on the fatigued shoulders of one man, who has no role in their lives except for managing the building they live in. Baker’s name star here is Willem Dafoe, and he is the best Willem Dafoe he’s been in ness knows how long. As long-suffering motel caretaker Bobby, who’s trying his best but understandably has his limits, Dafoe settles into this environment so skilfully you could sometimes swear he was a local, like all the other performers Baker found. (Tim Robey)

On October 31st with free breakfast.