Clockwise Cat Issue 40

twist. The film focuses primarily on her daughter, astounding actress
Brooklyn Prince, as she navigates her summer in the shadow of Disney
Land, where escapist fantasies are spun and those with the money means
can indulge in them. Of course, the daughter and her mother cannot afford
such vivid chimeras, and instead must endure actual reality in all its unjust
ugliness.
We mainly see this rough reality through the lens of the precocious
Moonee and her friends as we observe their quotidian activities which are
somehow captivating despite their mundanity. Granted, the activities of
childhood are never really mundane, but they are predictably
unpredictable, as it were. These kids are anarchically rowdy, which would
implicate negligence on the part of the parents. However, the movie averts
judgment and makes it clear that the parents care deeply. The film
meanders languidly through the Florida humidity and gives the sense of a
lazy summer day, rife with ice cream dreams and mischief making. (Of
course, we know that the protagonists are hardly lazy, as many in society
would brand them, but rather, victims of a system that discards at will.)
The gaudy colors of the motel lend lurid dimension to the crude
circumstances of the characters. The children bounce around impulsively,
doing kid things, but with a measure of charismatic aggression, while the
motel manager (Willem Dafoe, in a career-defining role) attempts to rein
them in - not to mention rein in some of the wayward behaviors of the
adults.
The actors, many of whom are first time thespians, superbly render their
roles. Their characters are nuanced, multi-layered and authentic, by turns
comedic and poignant in the way they negotiate their circumstances.
The final scene, which has been criticized as cliche by some, is, in my
view, the perfect coda to the brash ballet the characters have
choreographed. After all, the American Dream is pure propaganda, cradled
in tacky Mickey Mouse symbolism. We are all, in the end, refugees from
reality, seeking grand illusions to anesthetize the stings from the slings and
arrows of outrageous (mis)fortune.