8/10
If the director’s name was omitted from the opening credits,
you would still know exactly who created Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson’s style is so familiar to his
fans they would be able to pick out his sixth film anywhere. The character close-ups with them staring
directly into the camera are here. The
short, simple and declarative sentences are here. Of course, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman
are here; however, those two are the extent of the usual Wes Anderson film
players involved in his latest. There is
also the whimsical plot, an omniscient narrator, and a character named Social
Services.
Moonrise focuses on two 12 year olds, Sam Shakusky (Jared
Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward).
They consider themselves misunderstood and find kindred spirits in one
another on a small and isolated New England island in 1965. Sam is in a Khaki Scout troop run under the
detailed eye of Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton). Suzy is an island native being raised by her
lawyer parents, Walt (Murray) and Laura (Frances McDormand), who call each
other counsellor during conversations. Sam
and Suzy follow through on their idea to run away together and are quickly
pursued by Suzy’s parents, Scout Master Ward, and Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis),
who appears to be the lone policeman on the island.
Sam and Suzy make a good pair. He has absorbed excellent camping and nature
skills from the Khaki Scouts and Suzy, after getting tired of feeling like the
black sheep of her family, relishes the fact that she is not alone in the
world. Sam has been alone a long
time. He is an orphan who does not fit
in anywhere and is now also pursued by Social Services (Tilda Swinton). These two 12 year olds spend a lot of time in
front of the camera together and thankfully pull it off. Moonrise Kingdom would have been in
big trouble if Wes Anderson had not found capable kids to fill these shoes.
The adults take on supporting roles either as parents who
just don’t understand or confused authority figures who cannot figure out why
their charges would ever want to run away.
Captain Sharp is tired and lonely, the Bishop parents are growing apart
(which is not helped by Laura’s frequent bullhorn announcements), and Scout
Master Ward thought he was running a tight ship of scouts before the run
away. He is starkly confused on why
anyone would ever want to leave the scouts, even if they are the most unpopular
one in the group.
The actual run away escapades, the ensuing search parties,
and the developing relationship between Sam and Suzy are best left for the
audience to watch and discover rather than read about it in a review. Notable supporting characters pop up now and
then which will cause audience members in the know to smile. The most enjoyable parts of the film though
is Wes Anderson’s familiar atmosphere.
There are not too many films whose world you wouldn’t mind drifting off
into. Plenty of people would raise their
hands to jump into a Wes Anderson world, be it in such previous efforts as Rushmore,
The
Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,
and now Moonrise Kingdom.
Robert Yeoman has been the director of photography on all
six Wes Anderson films and the audience can see it immediately. The long, panning shots, the in your face
close-ups, and the ever so slight fairy tale feeling are all trademarks of his
style and camera work. The script is up
to Rushmore
and Royal
Tenenbaums standards and thankfully surpasses the lesser efforts of
The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited. Co-written with Roman Coppola, the dialogue
is what you expect from Wes Anderson and the scenes with the 12 years olds are
spectacularly written. These are not
just children, perhaps under-sized adults is a more suitable term.
Thank goodness for Wes Anderson. Without him, the cinema would be a far less
interesting place to go to. His peer
group includes the Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Cameron Crowe. Together, that list makes a formidable effort
to educate movie-goers about what true films are capable of and continue to
push back against the mundane garbage you usually are served from the likes of
Michael Bay and Adam Sandler.
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