Moonrise Kingdom

       Wes Anderson is one of those directors whom I respect but I can’t say that I love.  He gives us a unique experience and fully utilizes film as an art form as opposed to a vehicle for mass consumption.  ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ is no different.  While I’m not sure if I liked it or not, I do respect it’s uniqueness.  I applaud Wes Anderson to keeping true to a vision that almost assuredly will not achieve large box office success.

‘Moonrise Kingdom’ is almost a children’s film, but not quite. It follows the story of two twelve year olds who fall in love and flee their respective situations to be together.  It is set on an island in New England in the summer of 1965.  Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) flee into the wilderness and the local town authorities mass an effort to go find them.  The supporting cast is an All-star line up with Bruce Willis as Captain Sharp, the island’s constable, Ed Norton as Scout Master Ward, Bill Murray and Francis McDormand as Walt and Laura Bishop Bishop (Suzy’s parents).  Tilda Swinton shows up in a role simply called ‘Social Services’.

Sam and Suzy live in a dream like world of dissatisfaction in their respective existences.  Each a loner in their own ways, but when they meet they recognize a kindred spirit in each other.  Being only children, they cannot just leave, so Sam plots a year long plan to meet up with Suzy when his Boy Scout troop is camping on the island where Suzy’s family lives.  They meet and head off into the wilderness  (I’m not saying it was a well thought out plan).  Sam believes his Boy Scout wilderness skills can allow them to live together.

How the towns people react to the disappearance is almost as entertaining as Sam and Suzy’s journey.  Wes Anderson has a fascination with the 60’s era and small affluent towns in general.  The complex relationships of the towns folk is in stark contrast to the purity of the first love of Sam of Suzy.  It’s easy to look down upon them as puppy love, but their own lives hardly represent the ideal of what love should be. As I stated earlier, there is an abstract etherealism that permeates the film and an uncomfortable intensity to the love between Sam and Suzy that would make it uncomfortable to be seen only as a children’s film.  The situations between the adults are of mature complexity.  Despite all of that, there is a lightness and humor that one would expect to find in a children’s film.

Bruce Willis and Ed Norton are in top form.  Both Captain Sharp and Scout Master Ward are comical, but they are not cartoonish as there is a sadness and isolation they both possess that keeps their characters from being totally buffoonish. Out of all the former Saturday Night Live actors, I feel Bill Murray is the only one who has grown beyond his clown role and has been able to express himself as an artist.  He is a Wes Anderson favorite (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou).  I wouldn’t say his role is major, but it does provide profound insights into small town dynamics as he struggles with being the cuckolded husband.   Tilda Swinton's role as Social Services has an eerie futuristic Big Brother quality to it.  It is well done.

Again, the film borders on abstraction, but at heart it is a simple tale of first love and of society that is determined to prevent it from happening.  I walked out not sure how I felt about it (like all Wes Anderson films), but I admire the uniqueness of the vision.  I will always salute that.

I give this film *** (not from enjoyment, but from being well crafted)