Moonrise Kingdom

After his foray into the world of animation with the stop-motion adventure The Fantastic Mr. Fox, filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited, The Deep Sea Divers) returns to his roots with Moonrise Kingdom, proving once again why he's deservedly earned the label of cult director since his wonderful Rushmore.

Anderson's latest is set in 1965 on a small island off the coast of New England. Here, two misfits have decided to escape their previous lives: Boy Scout Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) flees the care of Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) at Camp Ivanhoe to settle down at a secluded cove on the island with his secret love, Suzy (Kara Hayward), the daughter of lawyer couple Bishop (Frances Mc Dormand and Bill Murray). But the disappearance of the two children calls not only the sheriff Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), but also the entire scout camp and the youth welfare office (Tilda Swinton) on the plan. A search begins, accompanied by neuroses, chaos and an approaching storm. But even though Sam and Suzy fall into the hands of their pursuers sooner than expected, the two lovers are not about to be deterred from their escape plan anytime soon...

Wes Anderson's signature is evident in every second of Moonrise Kingdom. The mix of quirky, lovable characters, whimsical humor, absolute attention to detail, and a resulting great interplay of costumes and sets always give Anderson's films a language all their own. However, especially with The Deep Sea Divers and, with reservations, Darjeeling Limited, there was an occasional feeling that the story had relied too much on the whimsicality of the production, but with Moonrise Kingdom the focus is once again more on the story itself. And it's so filled with charm and originality that it's extremely hard not to like this film.

Admittedly, Anderson's humor is a bit special at times. If you're expecting more mainstream gags, you'll have a hard time getting comfortable with the exceptional director's style. Anderson's jokes aren't always very obvious, sometimes they play out in the background or are the result of several interacting elements that only become apparent to very attentive viewers. And when things do get less subtle, the humour is usually quiet and extraordinary in every sense of the word. If you like that, you will be able to laugh out loud several times during Moonrise Kingdom, because the movie is bursting with wonderfully weird moments. Those who have little use for it, on the other hand, will probably just shake their heads in disbelief.

Moonrise Kingdom thrives on its primarily Rhode Island locations, great camerawork and, of course, the wonderful ensemble of actors. Here Anderson has shown particular courage, which has absolutely paid off. Few filmmakers would have dared to put two completely unknown young actors in front of top-class actors like Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Willis or Frances McDormand. But Anderson has guided the two newcomers, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, who are just 12 years old, through their first film shoot so well that their acting is extremely natural and unstrained, despite the deliberately artificial nature of the character.

In the final third, events take over a bit and the production threatens to be slain by Anderson's own inventiveness. But at the right moment the filmmaker still steps on the brakes, so that the mainly positive overall impression is only marginally marred. If you like affectionate, original and very special arthouse comedies in general and the films of Wes Anderson in particular, you should definitely not miss this little gem. Absolutely worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp