Moonrise Kingdom
Jun. 10th, 2012 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHey,
So I caught this film yesterday. It's a Wes Anderson picture which always makes me a little skittish because his films tend to fall into uncanny valley for me and while this works great for films like Fantastic Mr. Fox (because it's stop motion so it's already uncanny), it really falls down in other films (Rushmore for example).
This movie was delightful. I think perhaps I've finally got the hang of Wes Anderson films because it is still twee and contrived and rather theatrical, but it was a really enjoyable film partially because of those qualities.
The movie follows Sam, an orphan and Khaki Scout who summers at Camp Lebanon on the island of New Penzance. He falls in love with a local girl named Suzy and the two of them run away. It's...it's just incredibly adorable and charming. Edward Norton is the Khaki Scoutmaster who runs a tight ship and wants to do right by his boys, Bruce Willis is the island cop who goes out looking for the kids, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand are Suzy's parents and the only lawyers on the island (so it's implied that they face off against one another in court all the time -- although how much legal trouble there could be in a small island...well, it's a Wes Anderson film, let's not worry about it).
Anyway, the movie makes you laugh out loud quite a bit and you feel for all these characters. Most of them operate in a benevolent bureaucracy (the Khaki Scouts, the Law, the Lawyers, etc.) and while it doesn't provide happiness, it often provides comfort. Sam and Suzy can't play by the rules, they can only try and emulate it. Finding common ground between a clockwork existence and a wild, free-spirited one makes for a wonderful story.
The other cool thing about this movie is that when Suzy runs away, she brings a suitcase full of her favorite books. During the movie, she reads passages from these books from time to time. Of course, I was wildly curious to know if the books really existed or not. Sadly they don't, but they did make this short film with excerpts from all the books:
So yeah, I think this is a great movie and if you can just drift along and accept the uncanny valley, I think you'll really enjoy it.
later
Tom
So I caught this film yesterday. It's a Wes Anderson picture which always makes me a little skittish because his films tend to fall into uncanny valley for me and while this works great for films like Fantastic Mr. Fox (because it's stop motion so it's already uncanny), it really falls down in other films (Rushmore for example).
This movie was delightful. I think perhaps I've finally got the hang of Wes Anderson films because it is still twee and contrived and rather theatrical, but it was a really enjoyable film partially because of those qualities.
The movie follows Sam, an orphan and Khaki Scout who summers at Camp Lebanon on the island of New Penzance. He falls in love with a local girl named Suzy and the two of them run away. It's...it's just incredibly adorable and charming. Edward Norton is the Khaki Scoutmaster who runs a tight ship and wants to do right by his boys, Bruce Willis is the island cop who goes out looking for the kids, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand are Suzy's parents and the only lawyers on the island (so it's implied that they face off against one another in court all the time -- although how much legal trouble there could be in a small island...well, it's a Wes Anderson film, let's not worry about it).
Anyway, the movie makes you laugh out loud quite a bit and you feel for all these characters. Most of them operate in a benevolent bureaucracy (the Khaki Scouts, the Law, the Lawyers, etc.) and while it doesn't provide happiness, it often provides comfort. Sam and Suzy can't play by the rules, they can only try and emulate it. Finding common ground between a clockwork existence and a wild, free-spirited one makes for a wonderful story.
The other cool thing about this movie is that when Suzy runs away, she brings a suitcase full of her favorite books. During the movie, she reads passages from these books from time to time. Of course, I was wildly curious to know if the books really existed or not. Sadly they don't, but they did make this short film with excerpts from all the books:
So yeah, I think this is a great movie and if you can just drift along and accept the uncanny valley, I think you'll really enjoy it.
later
Tom
