In 7th grade, I had to spend a dreaded week at Camp Sequassen in upstate Connecticut. I would hope anything would happen to get me out of it; bear attacks at the campsite, a temporarily devastating accident leaving me in the hospital for at least a week, maybe a really sad celebrity death my parents knew I wouldn't be able to get over. Literally nothing was sacred. That camp was my fuckin' nightmare. No one knew who Kate Winslet was (?!?!?), the food was bad enough to get rejected by a herd of cats, and the campers were sickeningly enthused by trivial survival skills that were totally useless in the age of GPS. These were the kinda people who camped in January for fun ... you know, the kind who don't lose their virginity until their mid-30's with like-minded individuals.
Wes Anderson's pitch-perfected style is made for the Boy Scout camp setting. After The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson seems to have nailed the balance between being strictly quirky-funny and identifiable. His previous works, particularly the dry and condescending The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, were alienating, with an asperger's gaze that portrayed all characters as off-colour and passive. This time around, Anderson finds a happy middle-ground, not abandoning his "voice" but maintaning a relationship between protagonist and audience.
The second the film began, he perfected the minimalism of summer camp and the mood it emits. The story is adorable and endearing, a probable low-key childrens movie through an adult lens. It's impressive; he's able to alter how we percieve the material without adulterating it. It's the scope of childhood and adventure as seen by Anderson, but not told by Anderson.
Given Wes Anderson's status in the "indie" subculture, it's hard not to lump him with thet musician crowd rather than the film-maker. So few filmmakers have a directorial style as immediately recognizable as Anderson. Each film is "Andersonian" art through and through, more identifiable with each attempt. Like an album from an accredited artist, it's a solidly constructed piece. With his regular cast of "instrumentalists" (Murray, Schwartzmann) and a few stylistically consistent adds (the under-utilized Tilda Swildon, especially) Anderson's quirky troupe would fit in as well at Bonnaroo as they would at Cannes.
Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson's Deja Entendu. As our young protagonists escape to set off on a woodland adventure, the naivity attributed to all the characters is consistently amusing. Even the adults feel like nothing more than self-serious aged campers with a faulty perception of superiority. They're struggling to make decisions as the children, often being brash and over-analytical. Like Anderson's general audience, intelligent but premature souls without defined social etiquette.
Perhaps Anderson needed Moonrise Kingdom to aid viewers in understanding the insecurities and childishness of his film universe. He's able to tug onto our heartstrings, help us understand and romanticize the "outsider romance" while still upkeeping a hilarious and jovial mood. After a few lukewarm entries, it's safe to say that Wes Anderson is a director to watch in the upcoming years.
Grade: A-
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