Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom, by American director Wes Anderson, is a bittersweet tale of two young and introverted lovers who escape their bleak, grown-up world, to the saccharine dream built upon their own imagination. Complex and endearing, Anderson’s original screenplay has earned this film its own Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 2013, and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in the Musical or Comedy category. Moonrise Kingdom would no doubt be one of Anderson’s best films, if not one of the best films in the 21st century.

The two lovers, Sam and Suzy -played by teenage newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward- set off on a journey of love and self-discovery, all set on the idyllic backdrop of the fictional island of New Penzance. Khaki Scout

Its contemplative close-up shots and mystique are disguised in pastel peach hues. This being a direct result of Anderson’s exposure to vintage films such as Francois Truffaut’s Small Change (1976) and George Roy Hill’s A Little Romance (1979), and as the latter suggests, both films revolve around puppy love. Close-ups of the two lovebirds’ faces capture that tender affection. We can even feel the strong intimacy beyond Suzy’s vintage binoculars. Anderson’s distinct cinematography is exemplified through quick pans and flat-space, highlighting the movement and the fast-paced environment in which they live. His fast pace is evident through New Penzance’s witch hunt of the two children, where we feel the anxious tension in our very bones. It showcases the best of Anderson’s wit, the film’s dialogue flowing with quirky anecdotes reminiscent of one’s childhood; lines like “what kind of bird are you?” reminds us of a period free of the incessant struggle between maturity and adolescence. The film also pays homage to music of Benjamin Britten. Sung by children’s voices, we are introduced to his classical work by means of a vintage record player. In such the film’s love story begins and progresses much like the fleeting notes of a ‘cuckoo’ -an allusion to the avian species that Suzy and her friends portray in a play. Perhaps, maybe a bird being a symbol of internal and physical freedom outsiders like Sam and Suzy yearn for. Another one of

It is a childhood memory filled with retrospect, bliss, and candidness. Sam and Suzy’s tale is not just any ordinary love story. It is strange and at times uncomfortable. Yet that is what draws us in. We are entranced by the familiar and the unfamiliar. We are drawn in because we see ourselves in them. Like Sam and Suzy, every person is dysfunctional in one way or another. “I don’t think any of us are normal people,” so says Anderson. A sense of whimsy, a sense of curiosity - just as though we ourselves are ready to take off and dance to Francoise Hardy until the sun has set. It is a story that is intrinsically personal to young and old alike. Watching Moonrise Kingdom will take you into a perfect dream, of which you’d never want to wake up