Moonrise Kingdom

Now that the distractions of Christmas and the New Year are finally over we can get back to the serious business of screening films - and this week's selection looks a real treat.

I'd missed the reviews of this when it came out, but then noted it when it appeared in the Top Ten Films of 2012 lists that many critics poduced last month.

Here are my notes:

Moonrise Kingdom

USA 2012                    94 minutes

Director:                      Wes Anderson

Starring:                        Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and Tilda Swinton

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for 2013 Golden Globe (Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy)
• Nominated for Palme d’Or at 2012 Cannes Film Festival
• A further 11 wins and 27 nominations

 “The success of Moonrise Kingdom depends on its understated gravity.  None of the actors ever plays for laughs or puts sardonic spins on their material.  We don’t feel that they’re kidding.  Yes, we know these events are less than likely, and the film’s entire world is fantastical.  But what happens in a fantasy can be more involving than what happens in life, and thank goodness for that.”

Roger Ebert

In 1965, on a small island called New Penzance off the coast of New England, a young boy and girl fall in love, make a secret pact, and then run away together into the wilderness.  The people of the town are mobilised to search for them as a violent storm is brewing off-shore; as a result the peaceful community is turned upside down, which turns out not be a bad thing. 
The film is an original story by Wes Anderson who co-wrote on the script with Roman Coppola, who had also worked with Anderson on The Darjeeling Limited (2007), his previous film.  Anderson’s films often include an interesting and often surprising choice of music.  In Moonrise Kingdom young children listen to an extract from Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra in which the various instruments are separated and identified while the film closes with the fugue section that reunites all the instruments, suggesting the society being taken apart and then brought back together.  Meanwhile Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), the lonesome policeman listens to rueful country songs by Hank Williams while the romantic 12-year-old heroine loves the music of Françoise Hardy.

Wes Anderson made his name with the quirky comedy Rushmore (1998) and the comedy-drama The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).  In all his films he likes to work with the same cast and crew: amongst a number of regular players including Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson, Bill Murray has appeared in every film that Anderson has made to date and this has secured his reputation as a star of independent cinema. The current film also includes an eclectic cast list that includes such diverse talents as Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand (best known for her Oscar winning role in Fargo (1996)) and Tilda Swinton (who started her career by appearing in a number of films by Derek Jarman before moving to more mainstream films although still working with directors such as the Coen brothers in Burn After Reading (2008)).

The film received its world premier in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.  It subsequently opened to unanimous critical praise from critics and appeared in many lists of the top ten films of 2012.

Here's a link to the trailer: