"Moonrise Kingdom"--a Lovely Echo of the Past

 

"Moonrise Kingdom" is an utterly charming film.

Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) are 12 years old.  The time is 1965 and the setting is New Penzance Island (actually  Prudence Island in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay).  Wes Anderson gets it just right.  The look, the feel and the tone Anderson creates capture the time period in a pitch perfect manner.  What's more, the characters and story have integrity and credibility usually missing in Hollywood films.

Sam and Suzy have run away together.  Misfit kindred spirits, the two embark on a trek across the island to establish a new life together.  Sam is an orphan and a Khaki Scout, and Suzy is a "troubled" child, the oldest and only daughter of four kids who has anger management problems. We meet them as they begin their journey.  We get to know them as they get to know each other.

Sam shows Suzy his wilderness skills as he shares insights such as "throw pine needles in the air so you can tell which way the wind is blowing" (a trick that proves unsuccessful), and provides fish for their meal (one of his many successful wilderness endeavors).

For her part, Suzy hoists her brother's portable record player and a suitcase full of books to share as they travel to Mile 3.2 Tidal Inlet, renamed Moonrise Kingdom.

Sam and Suzy have a brief spat early in the film, but the two make up and declare their love for each other and that love rings true.  It's a fitting love, completely appropriate for 12 year olds.  The young couple have their first kiss (even of the French variety) and sweet first love embraces, but much more importantly they prove they have each other's backs. 

Sam sports a raccoon cap, summer Scout shorts, knee socks and  he smokes a corncob pipe while listening to Suzy read by the campfire at night. Suzy has only one outfit (there wasn't room in her yellow suitcase for anything more)--a highwaisted, miniskirted pink dress which she wears with her white knee socks, saddle shoes and blue eye shadow.  The costuming practically screams 1965. 

The all-star adult cast could not have been better, but remarkably, their performances never once overshadow their young co-stars.

Edward Norton plays Scout Master Randy Ward.  He starts off as an officious camp authority, but he drops the show when he has to report Sam's disappearance (or "resignation" as Sam's letter would have it).  Ward tells his Scouts he's a Scout Master first, and a Math teacher on the side and he shows his dedication  when he finds himself  miserably speechless in the face of his failure to rein Sam in, and later as he leaps to action in an attempt to fix things.

Bruce Willis turns in a quiet yet sincere performance as Captain Sharp, the island's only police officer.  He's having an affair, but it's doomed.  He finds in young Sam, a bright young chap worth saving.  He tells Sam, 'you're brighter than me', a poignant confession, but he's not self-pitying.  Rather, Sharp has a self-awareness which redeems both him and Sam.  Willis delivers a sweet performance, so contrary to the macho action roles which dominate his career.

Bill Murray and Frances McDormand play seemingly disaffected parents, only to reveal their all-too-human flaws and vulnerabilities.  Murray, playing attorney Walt Bishop,  has one of the best lines in the film when he proclaims that his daughter's been abducted by a troop of beige lunatics.

McDormand is perfect, as usual, as attorney Laura Bishop.  Laura summons the family to dinner with an electronc bullhorn, and seems distracted and disinterested--even as she discovers Suzy's missing (hours after she set off to meet Sam).  Later on, Suzy shows she knows her mom better when she reveals what she has discovered about her mom.  To her credit, Laura acknowledges the truth of Suzy's findings, but Laura offers insights about Suzy in the face of Suzy's declaration  that she hates her mom.  McDormand's expression is not at all dismayed, but rather knowing and understanding.  Again, there's a truth to the performance that's characteristic of the film as a whole.


The supporting cast of minor characters is also stellar and noteworthy.  Bob Balaban, as the narrator, and Tilda Swinton as "Social Services" turn in clever, yet understated performances adding texture and wit.  Balaban serves as the oracle of a violent storm which hits the island at a crucial point in the story.  Swinton's performance as a Social Services functionary is also absolutely on point.

The film captures the last of the innocence of the 1960s.  The year 1965 was a turning point in the U.S.  It was the year Malcolm X was assasinated.  It was the year of the Watts Riots.  And, it was the year that Dylan went electric.  There was a greater sense of security in the country.  It was an era well before the kid on the milk carton.  Anderson evokes the openness of the period with each of the performances, the script and the costuming. 

Sam and Suzy's love story is completely void of sentimentality, but chockful of truth and revelation.   The film is a gem.  If you see nothing else this summer, this is the one not to miss.