Moonrise Kingdom
★★★★★
(2012)
Wes Anderson’s latest is a glossy reissue package of everything that has come before it. Beautiful, Colourful, as immaculately composed as ever, dry, dark and sweetly funny, it certainly won’t win over Anderson’s detractors but for those of us who have wanted to live in one of his 7 films in one capacity or another or at least relive them over and over, the experience is only honed and deepened, making the fairy tale titled Moonrise Kingdom one of his best and definitely one of the best films of the year.
Finally making a film set in the sixties, surrounded by the nostalgia which has influenced Anderson’s other films rather than simply wrapping them in a nostalgic pop soundtrack, we are introduced to two troubled 12 year olds. They live, like all of Anderson’s quirky creations in a world which looks like ours but is enveloped in a hyper real style which keeps it far away from real life and produces lines and actions removed from our reality which often push and confuse but more often than not, make us laugh.
The distant and intense Suzy (Kara Hayward) and the geekish boy scout Sam (Jared Gilman) could, if one was to squint a little, be seen as the young Margot Tenenbaum (The Royal Tenenbaums) and the slightly younger Max Fischer (Rushmore). Their main disposition is one of escape and just as Margot and her brother spent a night hidden in a library, or chose to camp in the living room of their enormous house, Suzy and Sam, decide to leave their troubled lives and run away together into the woods to declare their young love.
With the whole town looking for them and a historic storm approaching we are locked firmly in the fictional world of New Penzance. Bruce Willis is on top form as the local sheriff, Edward Norton is sweet and funny as Sam’s Scout Master, trying and failing to keep his blood thirsty pack of boys under control, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand lend their weight to Suzy’s counsellor parents, Tilda Swinton is as steely as ever as “Social Services” and that’s before Harvey Keitel and Jason Swartzman pop up.
Anderson’s wit and attention to detail is brilliant as always, greens and yellow fill the screen and his theatrical dressing of sets is as arresting as ever. Kudos once more must go to cinematographer Robert Yeoman and art director Gerald Sullivan for their wonderful little touches which enrich the world perfectly, all shot entirely on 16mm film.
As wonderful as the veteran cast and Anderson’s team are, he and co writer Roman Coppola focus closely on Sam and Suzy. Whether they’re dancing on a beach to Franscoise Hardy or sharing their fist kiss, it’s their sad necessity to live away from their family, their anti social behaviour and their want for seculsion that sharpens Moonrise Kingdom darker edge even more so than most of Anderson’s other films, not to mention his usual innocent take on infidelity, stabbing and lightning strikes.
It plays on the assumption that all of us have wanted to run away from home at some point of another and expertly spins a dreamlike world which we could have only dreamed of. It seems like Anderson dreamed of it too and with a far cooler colour palette.
Essential.
