Year In ReView: Our 10 favorite films of 2017

The Florida Project

Sean Baker’s tremendous new feature pissed a whole lot of people off with its audacious ending — and we’re not totally sure that it entirely works either — but the proceeding hour-and-40-minutes features some of the best photography, writing, and performances of 2017 that we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’s about the dissolution of a Florida child’s (give Brooklynn Prince all the Oscars) fantasy life as her mother’s issues begin to manifest again, despite the occasional and mild intervention of their week-to-week hotel’s manager, played by an excellent Willem Dafoe. It’s a gonzo mixture of The Little Rascals and Bresson’s Mouchette, amplified by the gorgeous scenery and the outsized insanity of Walt Disney’s shadow. It’s also got the first use in a long, long time of Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” that didn’t make me want to shoot myself, so that’s something.

Here’s my TIFF review.