Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Director: Wes Anderson

Time Out rating

Average user rating

11 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Straightaway you know you’re in a film by Wes Anderson. ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ opens with the camera gracefully panning sideways through the cross-section of a suburban home in 1960s New England, stopping occasionally, like a train pulling into station after station, to spy on members the family. We may as well be peering into a retro doll’s house – and we are the kids about to play with the toys inside.

But if some of Anderson’s films, especially his last live-action work, ‘The Darjeeling Limited ’, have felt too heavy on the furnishings and light on feelings, this one is so much more free, fresh and soulful. Some things are familiar: it’s droll, cultured and comic. It wears its own uniform and plays its own tunes. Yet it also benefits from a heavy dose of youthful chaos.

Maybe ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ gets its lightness from being a simple, heartwarming romance, a rousing, us-against-the-world tale of a pair of 12 year olds who arrange to meet at dawn and march into the wilderness as outlaws. He’s Sam (Jared Gilman), a terrifically serious, bespectacled young man from a foster home who disappears from Scout camp, leaving a resignation letter for the leader (Edward Norton). She’s Suzy (Kara Hayward), the fiercely independent eldest daughter of the family we’ve spied on. Her mum and dad (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) are eccentric lawyers: he walks about the house brandishing his pot belly; she uses a loudhailer to call the kids to dinner. When Sam and Suzy disappear, the entire town (and a bunch of armed Scouts) come looking.

There’s a snappy momentum to ‘Moonrise Kingdom’. Anderson strikes a smart balance between creating a rarefied world and making us feel for his adolescent heroes: a stolen kiss on the beach between the two kids is magical and romantic. This is an American story but it has an unmistakeable French flavour to it. The 1960s setting, the kids on the run and the wild plotting (a bit too wild in the final third), all give it a nouvelle vague feel. It’s an American ‘Pierrot le Fou’ refashioned in retrospect with Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo as pre-teens. It also reminded me of Richard Ayoade’s recent ‘Submarine’, while Anderson himself has spoken of the influence of Ken Loach’s ‘Kes’ and ‘Black Jack’. That reference isn’t so easy to spot – maybe it’s there in the genuine concern for these kids’ feelings and their discovery of a whole new world in nature.

This is an adult film, really, of course, with all the pleasures of seeing Bruce Willis as a soft-hearted local cop; briefly encountering Tilda Swinton as a uniformed care worker called Social Services; lapping up the ample Hank Williams on the soundtrack; and squirming at a school production of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Noye’s Fludde’. But you can imagine ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ turning young kids on to cinema; it’s so full of a joyous love for the medium and smart without being clever-clever. Its childishness, sense of innocence and eye for fun all make it a very easy film to love.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Filmfan said...

Posted on May 29 2012 22:16 I absolutely loved this film from beginning to end. The script, acting, photography and music were flawless. Please see it by any means necessary! The girl was not sexualised - this is simply first love, beautifully and sensitively handled.

Report as inappropriate
cob said...

Posted on May 28 2012 16:46 ref j osullivan!!i have not seen this film only the trailer!!!comprenda!!!i have noi dea what a goonie let alone a goonie fan is!!!not sure of your remarks on labour education but iam the result of a grammar school education so not labour eh!!!and really you schmuck what has this to do with the trivilisation and degredation of a prepubescent girl??are you the director of this film?are you bill murray?and yes i do know a lot about womens emotional health long time nurse and midwife!!yo are a bloody mindless poseur!schmuck

Report as inappropriate
john o sullivan said...

Posted on May 28 2012 16:37 82 on Metacritic and 95 on Rotten Tom atoers .. maybe a bit of a stretch for Goonie fans and products of Labour schooling

Report as inappropriate
cob said...

Posted on May 28 2012 14:43 j o sullivan sounds up his own+++not talking about his haute filmy qoutes just really concerned about the sexalisation of a 12year old!!and her being posed in such a voyeurstic way take who the hell you want to see it when you can stop trying to impress ???12 is12 ad yes we all grew up but hopefully wont be sexualised for a directors profits noyice ignored at cannes!!good old kenny loach

Report as inappropriate
philsee said...

Posted on May 28 2012 14:19 Eventually very impressed with this film, but it took a while to get interesting. Perhaps that was inevitable because of the changing relationships of the characters. Dream-like story telling and imagery, almost surreal in parts.

Report as inappropriate
Ian said...

Posted on May 27 2012 19:06 I have obviously just watched a different film to some of the reviewers. I found it dull, self indulgent and really very pretentious.
The kids are great but the sexualisation of the girl is unnecessary and just adds to the "art house" feel of the film.
I have seen some god and some great "coming of age" movies, the Goonies and Stand by Me come to mind and this isn't one.
I agree with Archgate it is another example of the lauding of directors when really it is just another dull and slow film.
Only just worth 2 stars.

Report as inappropriate
john o sullivan said...

Posted on May 27 2012 18:21 A Masterpiece... As satisfying as a Kaurismaki box set...Best film of the year..Hank Williams,B.B. and Francoise Hardy....bliss

Report as inappropriate
galning said...

Posted on May 27 2012 17:02 completely fab! the just-hit-puberty sex is very underplayed and totally in keeping and what's wrong with love between 12 year olds anyway? if I had kids I'd very happily take them to see the film, adults too of course

Report as inappropriate
ARCHGATE said...

Posted on May 26 2012 19:16 Unwatchable ... unbearable...never before have I seen a film which dis-connects from it's audience. If it was a different director, he/she would have been panned til kingdom come. As I walked out after 30 minutes I saw audience members taking solace in mobile phones and some searching in bags for needles to poke in their eyes to negate the pain of watching this pretentious tosh.

Report as inappropriate
cob said...

Posted on May 26 2012 19:13 i have only seen the preview of this film but was most concerned about all the make-up on the young girl starring and her really obvious sexualisation in poses seen in the trailer i found myself wondering how a amazing actress like frances mcdormand viewed this as i found it most concerning and disturbing to se as the girl looks about 12 and looked made up a la bardot looking at the considerable damage done to lindsay lohan et al one wonders at the motivation of the director!!

Report as inappropriate
Ian said...

Posted on May 25 2012 22:19 Bizarre, droll, gloriously colourful, a parallel universe of wit and wonder and a wonderful lead pair who act the socks off the celebrity adult actors. If this has anything to do with Ken Loach, then it is only if he was tied down and fed large quantities of magic mushrooms. Loved it. Great music btw, don't miss the credits.

Report as inappropriate