Moonrise Kingdom
Directed by Wes Anderson
Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
With Jared Gillman, Kara Howard, Bill Murray, Frances
McDormand, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, and Tilda
Swinton
“Moonrise Kingdom” is an
enchanted love story about a pair of offbeat 12-year-olds who attempt to create
their own paradise of purity and goodness, away from the pettiness of the
adults in their lives.
Director Wes Anderson, known
for his films about people who don’t fit in, is a film industry cult figure who
takes huge risks and delivers films unlike any others. His films have detailed sets, quirky
costumes, and are loaded with wit and irony. He is a darling of movie critics.
Sam Shakusky (Jared Gillman)
is an orphaned overachieving pre-teen who is bullied and taunted in his Khaki
Scout Troop at Camp Ivanhoe, which is located off the Coast of New England. The
Khaki Troop is led by the ineffectual, knee-sock wearing Scoutmaster Ward (Ed
Norton). Sam wears a coonskin hat and thick glasses. It is 1965.
Suzy Bishop (Kara Howard)
lives with her always-feuding lawyer parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop (Frances
McDormand and Bill Murray), and three hyperactive little brothers. Her parents
communicate through the use of bullhorns and sleep in separate beds. Her mother
is having an affair with the woebegone local cop, Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis).
Bookworm Suzy lives in an
fantasy world far away from her boring but chaotic surroundings. She and Sam have
had enough and set off on their own to run away together. She brings a record
player, binoculars, a pink suitcase and a striped kitten. Sam brings every
imaginable piece of hiking gear, including an air gun. They meet at an
uninhabited end of the island and set up camp, creating their own miniature world.
They aim to create a happy-ever-after place.
However, the course of true
love never did run smooth. The heavily armed Khaki Scouts, Scoutmaster Ward,
Suzy’s parents and Captain Sharp set out to find the youngsters. A tight-lipped
Social Services officer (Tilda Swinton) is ready to put Sam in an orphanage
where Sam may or may not have electroshock treatments. The resentments and
jealousies among the adults overwhelm the search. The Khaki Scouts are no
better.
As they search, a terrifying apocalyptic
storm of Biblical proportions scatters
the pursuers. Mythic floods wash away the Khaki camps.
A cavalcade of Hollywood
stardom is represented by the cast of Moonrise Kingdom. Frances McDormand, Bill
Murray, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton and Bob Balaban appear
in this beguiling film. But what really holds “oonrise Kingdom together is
the performances of the two young stars. Both Kara Howard and Jared Gillman exhibit
purity, determination and the power of young love. They act like adults and the
adults act like kids.
The sets, carefully
manipulated by director Anderson, are perfect dioramas. The light has a faded
quality, as you might find in photographs in your old albums. The acting couldn’t possibly be better. The
soundtrack is beautiful. A nostalgic aura of times gone by suffuses the film.
Wes Anderson clearly understands
adolescence and what it is to be a troubled teen who doesn’t fit in. He shows
us that some wounds of that period cannot be healed, but can be lived with. This
odd and lovely film has elements of a whimsical fairy tale, as well as some
Biblical references. But mostly. it is a tender tribute to the power of young
love.
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