Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom looked quirky, peculiar, and downright funny in its preview. When we finally saw it, I turned to Neil after about thirty seconds and said, “Is this supposed to be set in 1962?” A moment later, a postmarked letter showed that it was 1965. That’s when quirky and peculiar were replaced by ‘oh, this is a period movie’ and it’s for families. Actually, its target audience is the
tween set since the two main characters who fall in love are twelve years old. We saw it at the Esquire so that audience would have been about twelve to twenty-five in 1965.
tween set since the two main characters who fall in love are twelve years old. We saw it at the Esquire so that audience would have been about twelve to twenty-five in 1965.
Suzy's Stolen Library Books |
The Narrator, Bob Balaban |
It’s narrated by Bob Balaban, who shows maps of the island where the story is set and warns of an impending storm – the worst in decades. We see Suzy’s family living in what looks to be a lighthouse on the coast inter-cut with Edward Norton as Scout Master Randy Ward realizing that Sam ‘has flown the coup.’ Basically, these are two troubled children who find one another and overcome a number of environmental and social challenges to be together. Anderson’s casting is excellent. Bill Murray, a longtime collaborator, is Suzy’s lawyer father who probably isn’t as old as he looks and Frances McDormand plays her tough lawyer mother who looks like she could be marching with Betty Friedan and Bella Abzug in a few years. Suzy seems like she could end up marching against Vietnam, going to Woodstock (after all, it was shot in Rhode Island), or even (gulp) joining the Weather Underground. Murray and McDormand suggest depth and
Murray, McDormand, Norton, and Willis |
complexity to their characters, though we see them and the other adults as Sam and Suzy see them – a few broad strokes of attitudes and emotions. This is also true for Bruce Willis
Tilda Swinton |
as (police) Captain Sharp and Tilda Swinton as Social Services (working in a George Tooker-like bureaucratic office, but dressed like a Salvation Army Sergeant).
Suzy and Sam Exploring the Moonrise Kingdom |
The real wonder is the gravity and commitment of Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy. Both make their professional movie débuts and they’re finds. There is no cuteness, no playing to be sweet; they’re both realistic children who seem to be from that era. The other child actors playing the Khaki Scouts and Suzy’s brothers and fellow performers in Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde are also notable for keeping it real. Britten’s music is used throughout, some of it from Leonard Bernstein conducting The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and it lends an otherworldly tone to the story along with the light and the color palette. It’s a movie I appreciated while watching and liked later.
1 comment:
I love Wes Anderson and "Moonrise Kingdom" was a top 3 flick for me in 2012. Great review!
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