06/10/12…..Heart-warming tale at Thame Cinema
MOONRISE KINGDOM – USA 2012, 94 minutes, 12A certificate, Directed by Wes Anderson, Starring Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel, Jared Gilman, Jason Schwartzman, Kara Hayward and Tilda Swinton.
Wes Anderson?s latest is arguably his most genuinely heart-warming film to date ? it has all the hand-made style and wit that characterised everything from Rushmore to Mr Fox, but perhaps with more real affection for its protagonists. A whimsical and poignant tale of teenage misfit love, extreme boy-scouting, and gently dysfunctional grown-ups with their own small crises to deal with, it is set in 1965 on an island off the coast of New England.
Like those of all the director?s films, this is a world of families and individuals who are like islands in themselves, their eccentric inner lives and domestic habits sealed off from the outside world. Sam is 12 years old, an orphan with a taste for arson and an encyclopaedic catalogue of survival skills. His pen pal Suzy is another loner who spies on grown-ups with her binoculars, and enjoys scifi novels. They are in love and decide to run away together, pursued by a crack squad of vigilante scouts, Suzy?s troubled parents (Murray and McDormand, who in spite of their marital hiatus seem made for each other), and the lonely local law enforcement authority (Bruce Willis, with some of the maverick qualities of his most iconic roles, but with more hesitance and vulnerability).
All are in thrall to the threat of Social Services ? Tilda Swinton with knife-edge hairdo and laser-sharp tailoring. She represents the authority and scrutiny of an outside world, closing in with her paperwork to remove Sam to an orphanage, threatening to unsettle a little moral and social ecosystem that would prefer to be left alone. All the while, a fierce and climactic storm is brewing… It is very funny and sweetly nostalgic for a more innocent and kinder time and place, and like all Anderson?s films each frame is meticulously composed, sumptuously coloured, and rich with quirky period detail. A joyous delight that will guarantee to leave a smile on your face.
