A Counsellor, Two Councillors and Young Rebels in Love

Moonrise Kingdom

**** out of **** 

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand

Running time: 94 minutes

In a March 2000 issue of Esquire, an interviewer asked director Martin Scorsese where audiences could find the next Scorsese. He pointed many toward the work of up-and-coming auteur Wes Anderson.

While Scorsese began his career with street smart, rebellious protagonists, Anderson later amassed a cult following for book smart, offbeat characters, as well as for his eccentric plots and intricate visual style. His films have a childlike imagination but often explore very adult themes. These sensibilities tend to divide his audience.

While much of his work is overly precious and emotionally inert, Anderson’s latest film, Moonrise Kingdom, is more touching and soulful than anything he has ever done.

The film is set on the fictional New Penzance Island, situated off New England, in the mid-1960s. It doesn’t have any paved roads and is home to many native wildlife reserves, according to the narrator and tour guide played by Bob Balaban.

At the film’s start, Sam Shakusky (played by newcomer Jared Gilman), an outcast from a troupe of pre-teen boy scouts, flees from camp. He becomes a lone wolf with a canoe, an air rifle, a beaver pelt and camping gear.

His scoutmaster, Ward (Edward Norton), notifies the local sheriff, Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), that the boy is missing. During his searches, Sharp finds out that another child, Suzy Bishop (newcomer Kara Hayward), is gone and her parents, two curt lawyers played by Bill Murray and Frances McDormand, demand to know where she is.

As it turns out, Sam and Suzy are on the lam together. Sam met Suzy backstage at a local church production a year earlier and the two have been penpals ever since. Sam is an orphan living with foster parents and is picked on by his fellow scouts, while Suzy is independent, defiant and misunderstood by her parents. These two adventurous souls were made for each other.

Suzy provides the entertainment for their daytime excursions, such as her favourite French record and a suitcase filled of hardcover adventure stories. Sam, meanwhile, provides the survival skills that allow the two to cross rivers, make dinner by campfire and fend off animals. He is also a terrific still-life painter.

Meanwhile, a storm approaches that threatens to halt their juvenile refuge.

Moonrise Kingdom is, tonally and thematically, set in a realm between youth and adulthood. The symbolism may be obvious – Suzy’s manor is named Summer’s End and the film takes place at the beginning of September – but it’s a point potently made.

The film earns its stripes (or scout patches) for developing the romance between Sam and Suzy with emotional brevity. Wisely, Anderson cast two unknowns destined for big careers.

With messy hair and Austin Powers glasses, Jared Gilman’s Sam Shakusky has the same endearing, courageous romanticism that Max Fischer, the young protagonist from Anderson’s Rushmore, embodied. Kara Hayward’s Suzie looks a few years older than her co-star but she has a striking vulnerability that makes the young romance work.

A scene of cozy sexual exploration set on a beach at dusk is maybe the most touching scene Anderson’s ever written. Gilman and Hayward make it even more magical, bringing an equal blend of confidence and awkwardness to their romantic interactions. Together, the two pre-teens are like miniature versions of the aimless misfits that populated the early films of Jean-Luc Godard, simultaneously lost and free.

Although the (adult) supporting players are (rightfully) shoved to the periphery of the film, the ensemble is a reliable batch.

Of note are two actors best known for committed, intense performances that do terrific work with quieter, more nuanced characters: Edward Norton as Sam’s wise scoutmaster, who leads his troops in an expedition to return Sam to base camp, and Bruce Willis as the lonesome police captain who sees something of our map-making young protagonist in himself.

Moonrise Kingdom has fantasy elements, Biblical allegory and the same loose, eccentric energy that pulsates through the crème of Anderson’s filmography. But it’s also the most poignant film he’s ever made, reflecting back on the vigor of coming-of-age with refreshing honesty and sympathy.