Movie Review:Moonrise Kingdom

Another trademark Wes Anderson film-offbeat yet engaging and visually interesting. Bottom of the pecking order Khaki scout Sam resigns from the organization to run off with his soul mate Suzy. They met the summer before when Sam was at an scout camp located on a New England island where Suzy is a year-round resident. They have been pen pals for the past year and decide they have had enough of their miserable lives and want new ones:they are in their early teens, it's 1965 and they live on a very small island. Both are messed up in the ordinary manner that kids are when entering puberty but Sam and Suzy have extra baggage. Sam's is obvious-dead parents with natural abandonment issues (matters aren't helped by the fact that his current foster parents have decided to send him back, like an unwanted puppy). Part of his coping mechanism manifests in a direct, socially clueless know-it-all-ness (the kid is smart) that annoys the shit out most around him. Suzy's seems more of the age she is at made worse by nutty rather self-absorbed parents. I suspect she is quite smart and bored with an unchallenging school. Having 3 younger brothers doesn't help either.

They meet in a meadow-Sam decked out in full scout regalia and camping gear; Suzy in a dress and Sunday church shoes, with her kitten in a wicker carrier, her brother's record player, her fav 78s and a bag full of “borrowed” library books. It doesn't take long for the adults to find out and soon Suzy's parents, the sole police officer on the island, and the rest of the scout troop search for the young,non-consummated lovers.

Being a small island, the kids are on the lam for only a short time but no matter- those are days of heaven. Moonrise Kingdom is the name they give to the sheltered cove where they camp. First chaste kisses are exchanged (she then demands French), permission to touch breasts is given (with apologies and promise of future growth). They share a sleeping bag although I don't think the actual act is contemplated. They give little consideration to their chances of escaping-it doesn't matter-being together is paramount. Meanwhile a storm of the century hurricane is bearing down on the island. They are found but re-escape with the help of Sam's fellow scouts, who through a newfound sense of esprit de corps,decide they must aid the couple as the weather worsens. Ultimately, the hurricane brings all together and lives are sorted out with some pretty positive results.

Ensemble cast:
Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy's weird lawyer parents (Mom communicates with the kids in their sprawling beach house via bullhorn). Murray continues his standard drollness. 

Bruce Willis plays against his Die Hard cop franchise: he is quiet, sad and nuanced as the island policeman.

Edward Norton is a goofy hoot as the nerdy and neurotic, cigarette smoking scout leader.

Harvey Keitel has a cameo as Norton's gruff scout superior who reenacts the opening sequence to the TV western Branded (which premiered in 1965. You don't remember this? Look it up on YouTube. With former Rifleman, Chuck Connors).

Tilda Swinton makes the most of a small role and gives a funny, over the top performance as the dreaded, insanely bureaucratic Social Service lady who goes by no other name than Social Service. Pretty Pythonish.

The young leads, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward do a credible job-he has the right amount of nerdy forthrightness (yet insightful and kind); she easily pulls off a snappy and intelligent wit, matches Sam's directness and readily displays a maternal side her mother seems to lack (reading out loud to Sam and later, the scout troop).

Anderson is well known for his long tracking shots and these are quite cool here where he continuously flows from room to room in the houses as if photographing a doll house with the exterior walls missing. I'm sure there is a metaphor here. His colors are saturated like the color film of the time giving a sense of hyper-reality and nostalgia.

A sweet tale with no big meanings. It's a Kodachrome snapshot of a past time, of summer, of childhood segueing into adulthood and all that goes with that hyper-sensed and passionate time of life: your first love-where in spite of having only a vague idea of what you are doing, all things seem possible.