Moonrise Kingdom
It’s so hot right now to have a guest blogger — especially an uberhot guest blogger named Conor. Many thanks to the one who is near & dear to my heart for contributing this post below! -SKM
Oh, Wes Anderson, how do you do it?! You marvel even the most scrutinizing of critics (me included) with your witty gestures, your clever looks (camera to character, that is) and your awe-inspiring ability to deftly snag a viewer’s attention.
Moonrise Kingdom, like his earlier film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, is pure genius and so hot right now. As we sat in the movie theatre surrounded by fifty-year-old to seventy-year-old observers cocking their heads side to side like our pooch does on a regular basis, our responses were all, “Aw, yes! Brilliant,” followed by peals of laughter after even more peals of unavoidable laughter.
The story takes place in the 1960s on an island off the coast of New England. The first scene is typical Anderson -– a drawn-out pan of the Bishops’home. From room to room, we are introduced to the characters, and even a bit into their lives as the children are reading, listening to classical music, and minding their own business while the father (Bill Murray) does his own thing and the mother (Frances McDormand) is off in la-la land, smoking her cig and looking for any excuse to not pay attention to her children until she has to yell their names (via megaphone) to come to the dinner table.
The plot unfolds when we are introduced to a “khaki scout camp” where twelve-year-old boys respond to orders from Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton). The story truly takes off when we find that a scout is missing, as is Suzy — the eldest child from the Bishop household. The rest is the unfolding of this fascinating, renegade relationship ‘tween tween lovers, her psychedelic parents, and a lonely police captain (Bruce Willis). Oh what a thrilling ride Anderson takes you on, and yet the movie is fairly slow-moving and filled with pauses, stares, and more awkward silences that are delightful to the observant eye.
My vote on the perfect movie marathon? Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, followed by The Royal Tenenbaums. You will get a great taste of how well-made movies can make you feel once you get up from your seat, and I am sure you won’t be disappointed. Just be prepared for bizarreness, and embrace it, for the world we live in doesn’t contrast his films too drastically after all.
Moonrise Kingdom – a must buy for your cinema library and a brilliant production taking head-on young love and family dynamics gone miserable – with yet a satisfying end that has you nodding, sighing, and saying, “Yes, I suppose that’s true.” Well done, Wes.
-CPM
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