Wednesday 30 May 2012

On Film: Moonrise Kingdom

All images taken from Tumblr

Tonight I went to see Moonrise Kingdom. In short, I loved it. 
It is essentially a love story between two 12 year olds, who have be communicating via letter for a year before deciding to meet and then run away together. Sam is an orphaned Khaki Scout, often described as 'emotionally unstable', and Suzy is rebellious, the eldest sibling and only daughter in a highly dysfunctional family, where her lawyer parents barely communicate, and her mother is having an affair with the local police officer. It is comedic, but also dark and almost disturbing in some ways - Edward Norton's facial expressions are fantastic. The relationship between the protagonists is cute, the soundtrack is brilliant, as always. I thought the casting was brilliant - especially as it included Tilda Swinton, whom I adore a ridiculous amount. 

I'm no Wes Anderson expert, having only seen two of his other films (The Royal Tenenbaums, which I loved, and Rushmore, which I really need to rewatch), in fact I only really got interested in seeing Moonrise Kingdom after seeing Jade (follow her blog, she's fab) tweet about it. However, I'd say this is very distinctive as a Wes Anderson film. There are the same themes and techniques applied, such as the framing of the shots, Bill Murray and Jason Swartzman included in the casting, the absence of a parent and the yellow titles. The settings used in the film are beautiful, I really loved Suzy's house with it's reading nooks and numerous bookshelves. When we were watching the film my friend said to me 'Nic, she is YOU!' about Suzy (in a particular scene she unpacks numerous books, but no extra clothing or food).

Moonrise Kingdom is almost a 'coming of age' story, as the runaway children force the adults in the film to recognise their faults, which definitely isn't a bad thing. The children are mature and serious, although naive and innocent, constantly fighting to escape and go on adventures. It is simply a beautiful, adorable story and I definitely want to see it again. 
Three reviews I read and found interesting can be found here, here and here, the first two being particular interesting to a Wes Anderson novice!

Any recommendations for which Wes Anderson film to watch next would be fab!

Thanks for reading x

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