Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love one summer and run away together on a small island off the New England coast of America.  The authorities and families try to find the youngsters before a storm that is threatening hits.

The year is 1965 and Anderson's America is full of innocent charm and doll house qualities that make this world unreal.

The 12 year olds, Sam and Suzy, embody the innocence not only of their own childhood but of the age.  By 1968 this world would be swept away by Vietnam and revolution.  But for now Sam who is an orphan and a member of a scout troupe and Suzy who loves sci-fi novels are allowed to discover their sexuality and first love in an innocent world.

Anderson has assembled a stellar cast which includes his regulars like Bill Murray and new entrants Tilda Swinton, Ed Norton and Bruce Willis.  Bill Murray and Frances McDormand play Suzy's unhappy parents.  Bruce Willis is the depressed local policeman.  Tilda Swinton's character who is known only as "social services" who wants to send Sam to an orphanage and Ed Norton's Scoutmaster Ward who want to round them up and bring them home. 

Anderson speaking at the press conference said that he likes working with the same group of people again and again because the actors in his films become like a family to him.  "Every time I make a film it feels like I am gathering a family around me, it's like a theatre troupe, even though it's film not theatre."

The actors confirmed that not having trailers on set, doing their own hair and makeup and doing everything in a group made them feel like a family not just a group of actors on a film set.   Murray who has been in all of Anderson's films said: "Making these films, for me it just keeps getting better and better."

The film follows the two young actors into the wilderness of a small island while the grownups search for them.  There are a lot of laughs as well as a certain sadness and the sense of loss that adulthood brings with the loss of childhood.

The film is told from a child's perspective and there is an innocence and freshness to the film that is unique.   Anderson creates a magical world on the screen and part of this is the visual style of each film.

Anderson has worked with DoP Bob Yeoman on all his films and he said that he doesn't know how it compares to anything else because Yeoman is the only one he has ever worked with and he learned everything about working with a DoP from him.  The film was shot on super 16mm which is part of what gives the film its distinctive look but Anderson said he supposed it would be his last film on film stock as HD was taking over everywhere and there would soon no longer even places to process the daily rushes or the film stock.

The music of Benjamin Britten plays an important role in the film with Anderson describing the film as being set to the music which provides the colour of the movie.

Anderson said: "I wanted to create a fantasy world because when you are a child and you fall in love for the first time it's like you are moving under water, everything slows down, it's like you were in a dream."  Anderson's films are quirky and strange but somehow it works.

 

Credits:

USA

Director: Wes Anderson

Screenwriter: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola

DoP: Robert Yeoman

Production: American Empirical Pictures

Cast : Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban, Harvey Keitel, Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward