Wes Anderson’s new land: “Moonrise Kingdom”

Moonrise Kingdom  (USA 2012) 94 min.
Directed by Wes Anderson.
With Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill
Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, et al.

Playing: Sept, 13, 7 p.m. at Empire Studio 12 Avalon Mall - St. John's

If it was good enough to open the Cannes Film Festival this year then
it’s good enough to open the 2012-2013 MUN Cinema Series. It’s hard to describe Wes
Anderson’s cinematic style: it’s quirky, all right. But not too below
the surface of his eccentric characters and plots there lies a sadness
that comes with the inevitability of adulthood. So it is that MOONRISE
KINGDOM is in many ways a celebration of youth, or, more importantly,
the freedom and spontaneity that attend to youth—and tragically fade
with experience. Young moody Suzy and thoughtful Sam are drawn to each
other, seeking escape in the ‘sixties on an island as magical as the one
over which Prospero once ruled. Indeed, Anderson’s world is stamped with
Shakespearean blocking figures--confused adults, menacing officials, and
all manner of obstacles on the path of young love. Naturally, a full
cast of eccentric actors show up to remind us we are in Anderson Land,
especially Bill Murray who plays Suzy’s gin-soaked dad. This is such a
wonderful, sweet, poignant film that you are bound to be moved not only
by the fate of the marvelous young actors but by the imagination that
invented them and the brave new world they dare to inhabit.