My Favourite Movie of the Year....so far

Moonrise Kingdom (directed by Wes Anderson)

 

 

All reviewers of a new Wes Anderson film have to address, the Wes-ness of a Wes Anderson film. He is a director who brings a unique visual style to each of his features, one that the term Auteur was meant for, his work brimming with distinction. His is also one that the term Marmite was meant for, you either embrace the fantastical world he creates or recoil at the kookiness of it all, longing for the days that when Bruce Willis played a cop in a film, it was violence in a white vest and not as a buttoned down officer of a remote island. This reviewer falls into the former category, revelling in the intricate details and oddball characters that consume his cinematic microcosm, whilst also being astounded (and a smidge jealous) that he manages to not only get away with very quirky concepts, but also making them feel somehow natural. Few filmmakers can pull off this fine line act but Anderson does so in spades… the clever jerk.

Though whilst his last film Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) was an animated match made in heaven, Wes’s narrative proclivities suited beautifully to the stop motion technique, his previous effort The Darjeeling Limited (2007) was a slight misstep, verging towards indulgence without the real emotion that he usually balances so well. However with Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson is back to his best, in a film that threatens to be the best of his career.

Moonrise, is set on an idyllic New England island in the summer of 1965, a haven for eccentric characters and blossoming love. Amongst the island is a ‘khaki scout’ summer camp lead by Edward Norton’s endearing scout master Ward and where one of its troop, Sam Shakusky, flies the coup (in an entertaining homage to a certain prison film) to run away with his beloved pen pal Suzy Bishop. Sam and Suzy are troubled children, two idiosyncratic 12 year old misfits, each with their own bag of neurosis at such a young age. When Sam meets Suzy the previous year at a church performance of Noye’s Fludde by Benjamin Britten, the two remain pen friends and make a pact to run away together the following year on the island. They head to a secluded cove on the edge of the island but in hot pursuit are his scout master Ward and the rest of the khaki scouts, the local police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) and Suzy’s parents Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura (Frances McDormand).

What follows is a kaleidoscope of scenes, dreamily enveloped in tawny and sage colours with a hint of 60s colour pop, etched with oddities and wistful recollections of the bittersweet terrain that childhood crosses. The two young star crossed lovers Suzy and Sam (played endearingly without any hint of precocious annoyance by newcomers Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman) display the naivety of adolescent first love, the zest for adventure and the freshness of youth, yet they have a wisdom beyond their years, affected by their surroundings and upbringing, Sam being an orphan, Suzy labelled as a girl with ‘issues’.

The two unknown child actors are complimented, rather than overshadowed by the rest of Anderson’s troupe who are all pitch perfect. Edward Norton undoes a lot of the bad work he has previously created and reminds us that he can be fun. Bruce Willis meanwhile shows he can do subtle as the buttoned down Police Captain of the Island, his tentative relationship history with Frances McDormand’s Laura serves as a counterpart to the dizzy defiance of Suzy and Sam’s courtship. It is also a treat to see Bill Murray and Bruce Willis share the screen for the first time in a small but affecting scene. And whilst Tilda Swinton, wonderfully known simply as Social Services, doesn’t get much screen time as the slight villain of the piece, she does make her usual classic presence felt while rocking a nifty cape and bonnet.

Anderson has pulled off one almighty achievement in creating such a dotty, playful movie but one with an emotional chord that slowly creeps up on you. By the time you leave the cinema, the feeling of enjoyable glee is tinged with the sudden realisation that childhood is gone and you ache and mourn for that period in your life, when you were a kid and could take on the world, the fearlessness and the fervent spirit of youth. Moonrise Kingdom is a film made with the heart of a 12 year old, in fact it seems we are watching a film made by Wes Anderson’s adolescent self (albeit one with his usual wit and flair). The feeling of innocence and love is overwhelmingly infectious and the portrayal of a moment in life that was pure, reminds us that whilst that time has passed, it lives on in our memories, like the titular haunt of Moonrise Kingdom, (and in turn, the film itself) it is a place that will live on in a nostalgic beautiful sublime haze.