Since I'm still working out my feelings, I'll keep this one short and sweet.
In 1965, 12-year-old misfits Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) plot to run away together and live in the wilderness of their small New England island, as a search party consisting of the island police officer (Bruce Willis), Sam's scout master (Edward Norton) and Suzy's unhappy parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) track the young couple as a major storm approaches the area.
I've never really gotten into Wes Anderson like everyone else. Outside of Fantastic Mr. Fox, I haven't cared for any of his other films I've seen, and the ones I haven't simply didn't appeal to me. And yet, Moonrise Kingdom called to me...and I answered. The problem is I have no idea what I actually feel about the film.
I know on some level I genuinely liked Moonrise Kingdom. The cast is fantastic, the film looks terrific and I was actually in tune with Anderson's humor this time. Yet something is holding me back from saying outright "I really liked this!"
Perhaps I've forgotten what it's like to be a kid during summer, before our technological age. Perhaps I couldn't quite connect with the story of young love, charming as it was. Perhaps the more dramatic adult elements weighed the experience down. Perhaps that third out was a bit out there for me to grasp. Or perhaps I'm hellbent on not allowing myself to declare liking a live-action Wes Anderson film.
Whatever my issue is, I'm willing to find out by watching Moonrise Kingdom again someday and fully anticipate my feelings, whatever they are, to change, for better or worse.
"Yet something is holding me back from saying outright "I really liked this!"
ReplyDeleteI felt the same. I think the 'twee' thing with Wes Anderson seems a little false in this film. As if it is more of a crutch rather than an auteur skill.
Very possibly. On the one hand, I love the whimsy of the main characters' young love and dedication, but at the same time I almost feel like I have to call bullshit because at 12 they seem too young to have gotten into this situation.
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