Dir.: Wes Anderson.
With: Kara Hayward,
Jared Gilman, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray.
This is the eighth
film by Wes Anderson, an American auteur from Texas but with a Nouvelle Vague
soul. It opened the Cannes Film Festival this year.
It has been three
years since Anderson’s last film, a stop-motion animation ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’
and now he returns with a story of twelve-year-old star-crossed lovers. Sam Shakusky
and Suzy Bishop, played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, are two massively
unpopular but very wise kids, he is an orphaned boy scout and she is the eldest
daughter of two lawyers. The platonic affair, carried through numerous (and
very formally written) letters, culminates in a meticulously planned escape. As
the couple trek through the island of New Penzance, they share their stories,
symbolically consummate their relationship, pierce Suzy’s ears, and are
heartbreakingly honest with each other (Sam informs Suzy he might wet the bed
and Suzy tells him she is a ‘very troubled child’).
As the two fugitives
enjoy romance and adventure, the adults pursuing them face crises of their own,
for ‘to love both young and old surrender’. Mr and Mrs Bishop (Bill Murray and
Frances McDormand) struggle with their own failed marriage, Scoutmaster Ward
(Edward Norton) feels guilt and responsibility for Sam, and the island’s police
force, represented by a single officer (Bruce Willis – best acting I’ve seen
from him in a while), suffers from unrequited love and loneliness. The acting
standard throughout the film is very high, in particular in Kara Hayward’s
case. She has a deadpan intensity and broodiness that makes her character both
endearing and slightly unnerving. A bittersweet feeling accompanies all the
characters’ storylines. Anderson achieves the perfect balance of comedy and
heartbreak and you have no choice but to sympathise with each and every one of
them.
In short, ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ addresses the same
themes that can be found in all of his previous works: dysfunctional families,
loss of innocence and alienation set against the background of an eccentric, highly
stylised world. The thing about Anderson’s style of filmmaking is that it is so
distinct and personalised that you end up either hating it or loving it – I
fall within the latter category. I like the calculated quirkiness of his
characters, the fabulous art direction and the mixture of comedy and drama. At
the same time I can understand why people would hate it – as ‘Darjeeling
Limited’ has shown, Anderson can be prone to self-indulgent, infantile stylisation
without much substance. However, in this film he avoids this completely. His
ability to show families from inside out, pointing out their troubles in a
nuanced and subtle way, is unparalleled.
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