First love prevails
Moonrise
Kingdom is a marvelously goofy concoction that makes us smile in wonder at
the mind that created it. The initial seed, apparently, was Wes Anderson's
memory of being a schoolboy who once loved a girl from afar without ever telling
her how he felt - a familiar tale of first love. But Wes Anderson had to do
something about it. He has written and directed a grand surprise.
It is 1965,
and we will spend a short while on the island of New Penzance off the coast of
New England. Of those who live in its 16 wooded miles, only two encampments are
of interest to us. One is the sprawling house of the Bishop family. The other is
the Ivanhoe Boy Scout Camp whose Scout Master is Mr. Ward (Edward Norton.)
At the
Bishops we meet Mom (Frances McDormand) and Dad (Bill Murray), a gaggle of small
boys, and older sister Suzy (Kara Hayward), a solemn teenager who stares for
long periods into the distance through her binoculars. What is she looking for?
She is looking for whatever is out there that might free her from her
discontent. Hoping for something more than being an outsider in school and
family, she is too young to suspect that her otherness just might be the key to
a great adulthood.
In the Boy
Scout camp, Sam (Jared Gilman) is the most unpopular guy in camp for many
trivial reasons that we grasp very quickly. On a troop visit to the local school
play, Sam meets Suzy, falls in instant love and makes a plan. Unwilling to live
among their dull peers, the two outliers meet in a beautiful meadow and
eventually make their way to Moonrise Cove where they - thanks to Sam's camping
training Suzy's rich trove of books - can be alone together.
The island,
meanwhile, has jumped into full search mode. Scout Master Ward, Troop 55, Suzy's
parents, Social Service (Tilda Swinton,) and police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis)
all reveal their small strengths and weaknesses, but as the movie unfolds, the
only thing we really care about is the blossoming friendship between Sam and
Suzy.
The secret of
this movie's success is that Wes Anderson sets a tone in the first scene that is
sustained throughout by all his actors. And exactly what is this wacky tone?
Best to think of it as unexamined formality, a gravity of attention to duty and
detail, an absolute lack of humor or self-awareness. In their dutifulness, the
grownups always manage to look silly - Mom directing her family through an
amplified megaphone, Scout Master Ward directing his troops in his short pants
and bandana. Sam and Kara, meanwhile, explore young love in the grave tones of
young intellectuals. The mystery here is why the attentive audience sits there
in pleasant contentment, laughing gently and continually at a story that looks
pale on the page. That is Wes Anderson's gift to us all.
Copyright (c) Illusion