I first saw Wes Andersen’s Rushmore on a whim, and left the theatre astounded. Imagine a movie filled with stiff artifice, and yet still warm and full of feeling. Imagine a soundtrack that sounds like the echo chamber of a singular young man’s mind. I loved it. I couldn’t wait to see just what he would do next. I thought he was a genius.
Then I saw the Royal Tenenbaums, and… well, it was uneven. I didn’t even bother to see that Life Aquatic movie, although I might give it a chance some night when I have nothing better to do and there are no more undiscovered Vancouver-made ScyFy shitfests on my OnDemand.
But Moonrise Kingdom is Andersen’s art crystallized. Like James Joyce, Andersen has navigated through a disorganized and beautiful garden of his own art to come upon this movie, which is his crowning achievement.
Sam and Suzy are both twelve, both born damaged goods: she’s seeing psychologist, he’s an orphan. One night they meet during a production of Britten’s Noyes Fludde. It’s not so much love at first sight, but a sober recognition as one dysfunctional half meets its other. They arrange to run away together and live in the wilderness, using Sam’s wilderness training he learned in Khaki Scouts.
I don’t want to ruin the movie any more, as I saw it without ever seeing the trailer (I trust Andersen that much). Many scenes are jewels, with actions happening in the fore, mid and background as the dialogue runs through. Andersen uses a Greek Chorus, the music of Benjamin Britten, and the authorities of 1950′s America (Scout troops, Social workers, cornpone policemen, rigid gender roles) to offset the simple freedom Sam and Suzy strive to taste as they camp out on their tiny beach. Moonrise Kingdom is Romeo and Juliet, the Tempest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, all blended with Andersen’s style, which I would describe as anal-retentive off-broadway set designer on a budget meets Buster Keaton, and then add Bill Murray. Underneath the style and influence is the beating heart of the movie: sometimes love just is, and stay out of its way.
