Within
the limits of comic fantasy, Wes Anderson's
latest film, Moonrise Kingdom, evokes a time
when the simple experience of being alive filled
us with wonder. Though Moonrise Kingdom is
offbeat as only a Wes Anderson film can be, the
expression of his individual style, whether it's
called “miniaturist”, “quirky” or something
else, is a sincere and heartfelt counter to the
homogenized product emanating from the Hollywood
assembly line. Co-written by Roman Coppola and
set on an island in New England in 1965, the
film opens at Camp Ivanhoe where the Khaki
Scouts are subject to their morning inspection
by earnest Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton).
It seems as if the Scouts are up to funny stuff
such as building tree houses higher than the
nearest angel. As the moving camera follows Ward
on his daily routine, he discovers that
12-year-old Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman), an
orphan who lives with his foster parents and has
been labeled as “emotionally disturbed,” has
“flown the coop.” We find out that he has run
away with young Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward),
another unhappy camper who lives on the East
Coast island of New Penzance in an upper-middle
class home with her three younger brothers and
two attorney parents (Bill Murray and Frances
McDormand). In a panning shot, the camera
catches the Bishops in separate rooms as if each
is living in their own universe, the mother
communicating with her family by the use of a
bullhorn.
As shown in flashback, Sam and Suzy met a year
ago when he barges into the girls dressing room
during a school play and they have been writing
letters to each other ever since, meticulously
planning a ten-day run away to a remote part of
the island. Though it is hard to see the
attraction of a precocious (though
expressionless) young woman who loves to read
books to a smallish, young boy with thick
glasses and a speech impediment, what people see
in each other at any age, more often than not,
does not fit our pictures.
When the two fulfill their dream and find an
isolated beach area known only as "Mile 3.25
Tidal Inlet," they are pursued by a search team
that includes Suzy's parents, the Scout Master
(Norton) and his commanding officer (Harvey
Keitel), the local police captain (Bruce Willis)
who is having an affair with Suzy's mother,
an-over the top Tilda Swinton, known only as
Social Services, cousin Ben, a scam artist
dressed as a scout (Jason Schwartzman), and
Sam's deputized fellow scouts who eventually
redirect their energies towards supporting Sam.
With an approaching hurricane, everything that
Sam has learned about wilderness survival will
be put to the test in a very busy whirlwind
finish.
Moonrise Kingdom is not only played for laughs,
though there are plenty of them. It also
expresses a longing that may strike a responsive
chord with those who have ever felt the sting of
being different and isolated from others. Sam
and Suzy's relationship is recognizably
childlike without being marred by sentimentality
or excessive cuteness, and we can believe that
they love each other. When Suzy tells Sam that
the idea of being an orphan is so appealing and
romantic, with adult honesty he tells her “I
love you, but you don't know what you're talking
about.” Wes Anderson knows what he is talking
about and Moonrise Kingdom is an affirmation of
childhood that, in an age of cynicism and
uber-technology, reminds us all of what we may
have forgotten.
