Directed by: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis
Rated: PG-13
94 minutes
Kara Hayward (left) and Jared Gilman star as 12-year-olds in “Moonrise Kingdom.” (Courtesy photos)
In the past, I’ve felt like Wes Anderson chose the wrong career–like he should have been a sculptor or a painter instead of a filmmaker. I’ve felt that way because his movies focus so much on the visuals, while the stories never feel genuine. The characters and settings are bizarre, and it’s fascinating, but it makes you feel like Anderson is trying so hard to tell you that he’s unique.
Well, I can’t say “Moonrise Kingdom” makes me feel much differently about him, although he has perhaps taken a small step towards not making everything eccentric purely for eccentricity’s sake.
The movie follows Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward), two troubled 12 year-old kids on a small island town off the New England coast. When they run away together, the adults on the island form a search party to find them, among them Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton, “Fight Club”), Sam’s Khaki Scout troop leader, and local police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis, “Die Hard”), as well as Suzy’s parents.
It’s not long before trouble starts brewing. Sharp begins to wonder whether he wants to rescue the boy and send him off to Social Services and “juvenile refuge.” Meanwhile, Suzy’s mother’s affair with Sharp is going downhill; and to top it all off, a hurricane for the history books is heading straight for the island.
Edward Norton as a scout troop leader in “Moonrise Kingdom.”
As with any 12 year-old’s grand plan, it’s never clear what the final purpose is for Sam and Suzy. We only learn some details about where they’re going, but it’s not clear if they get there, and the rest of the islanders catch up with them too soon to tell. But for a few minutes right in the middle of the movie, as the search party members are off elsewhere chasing their own tails, Anderson creates a wonderful and sweet moment between the two young lovers. They set up camp together at an unnamed spot, their own special kingdom (from which we get the title of the movie). But while that moment stands out as the highlight of the story, everything before it feels like setup and everything after it feels like denouement, except for a turning point near the end that comes out of nowhere.
Anderson’s screenplay is imperfect, and his direction tries to understate the bizarre world that he himself created. I’m left wondering, why does he make everyone speak with deadpan inflection? Why must everything sound so stilted all the time? It’s especially frustrating with the two young leads, both starring in their first ever movie. And neither one stands out, but not because they can’t act (although, when it comes to that, Gilman might be a little better, even if Hayward is more charming), but because they’ve been told to just blurt out their lines as though they’re on a bus that will explode if anyone raises his voice.
The adults, for whatever reason, are granted more leeway in this; at one point, the four main adult characters get into a shouting match while, predictably, everyone else watches completely unfazed. Of those adults, Edward Norton gives the best performance; his hapless Ward is simultaneously adorable and a complete idiot. Bruce Willis, for once in a nonviolent role, is forced to underact, just like everyone else; a little bit of emotion seeps through, though, I’m guessing much to Anderson’s chagrin.
Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton co-star, but for the talent among them, they all get stuffed into restrictive roles where Anderson shoves their respective “quirks” down our throats in a desperate attempt to establish character. While it all makes a nice adults vs. children contrast, there is a general lack of depth in the characters, or at least a lack of believable development.
And yet, for all that I can’t help but criticize Wes Anderson’s look-at-me-I’m-artistic style, I enjoyed “Moonrise Kingdom.” It entertained me for 94 minutes, and it didn’t go on too long. And it had some touching moments, and a good dose of humor. But I doubt this will be a growing trend in Anderson’s future movies; it seems he’ll never try making a movie where every bizarre choice has a reason. Which is a shame, because he is, much to his credit, a very imaginative person. But it takes more than a healthy imagination to make a movie that’s clever.
Danny Eisenberg is a 2010 graduate of the Bromfield School and is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania.
