I'm going to skip right past the part of the post in which I congratulate myself for writing so comfortably *before* the end of the month and get right to thesis of the day:
GO SEE "MOONRISE KINGDOM" (2012).
I am, at times, exceedingly fortunate. When I received email notification that my new very most favorite museum was hosting a preview of Wes Anderson's newest film, I dove on the opportunity. Due to the director's popularity, I was placed on a waitlist. However, the day of the screening, I totally got an email at work alerting me that I'd been granted a ticket, and would I like to claim it?
HECK YES I WOULD.
After a full day's work, I was like "Peace bitches I'm going to see a snooty indie film!!"
So I don't want to spoil anything about this movie, because it's so full of delight, whimsy, sweetness, and surprise that I don't want to ruin anything. Instead, in case you are for some bizarre reason on the fence about seeing this movie, I will present five arguments in favor of as-prompt-as-possible viewership:
1. Have you seen this cast?????
 |
| Yes plz. |
--Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman are so engrossingly appealing that they are wholly fit to carry the film.
--Bill Murray, who I love more than words, duh.
--Frances McDormand, as adorable and quirky as ever.
--Bruce Willis, at his somber, vulnerable, yet still masculine best.
--Tilda Swinton, fabulous as a terrifying social worker.
--Bob Balaban, of Christopher Guest fame!
--Jason Schwartzman, who is totally not distracting (as I've found him to be in everything since "Rushmore" (1998)), but is actually completely engaging and funny.
And two words....
2. Edward. Norton.
I love him. I love him I love him. And if you don't, there's something seriously wrong with you. Because this man is a national treasure. He is endearing, earnest, lovable yet sad, humble yet heroic. He doesn't disappoint. As if he could.
3. The music is beautiful, fun, affecting, and haunting.
Wes Anderson's soundtracks have been some of my favorite collections of music since I saw "The Royal Tenenbaums" in theaters. Seu Jorge's renditions of David Bowie in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004) are among my favorite songs of all time.
In some ways, Anderson has really outdone himself with "Moonrise Kingdom". Diverging from his usual repertoire of rock and singer-songwriter music, he has instead opted for primarily orchestral and vocal pairings, which blissfully, deliciously enhance the lovely yet melancholic nostalgia of the story. I still think of the closing music, with children's voices mimicking the calls of cuckoos, and it brings tears to my eyes. It's so beautiful!
4. And while we're on the topic: Anderson perfectly captures the true meaning of "nostalgia".
Because it's been a while since I mentioned Mad Men: Remember Don Draper's Kodak pitch about the real meaning of the word--the pain of remembering? The pain of a perfect moment, lost? The aching joy of having memories that make you wish you could time-travel to revisit them, and live them over and over?
That is so much of the pull and power of "Moonrise Kingdom". It's a movie about childhood, summer, adventure, love, and better still, finally finding a person who makes you feel less alone in the world, and throwing yourself wholeheartedly into that person.
I was only given one ticket for this screening, and as the images of the movie faded and children's voices "cuckooed" over the closing credits, I found myself deeply wishing I had been given a second ticket for Boyfriend. But beyond wanting to share this film with him, I found myself wanting this story with him.
Life--if we're lucky--is long. We met many years ago, and have already spent five years officially, wonderfully, together. We will hopefully have many, many more years to spend together. But I'm greedy, and it doesn't feel like enough. I think of us meeting in not in college but in childhood, and I think of all of the burdens that would have been borne more lightly, the ugly patches that would've been trudged through with more of a spring in my step or--better yet--circumvented altogether, and the immense and immensely-needed comfort he would have been had he come into my life earlier. It's painful, in a beautiful way, to wish for these things that never were because I love someone so much now.
This is certainly not the first time I've had these thoughts, but "Moonrise Kingdom" evoked them with a potency I hadn't previously experienced. It's a powerful, stunning, and bold little film, and, dare I say it?
5. It's the best Wes Anderson movie to date.
That's right. With the Anderson signature finely-honed, immersive auteurist vision, his sweetness, vulnerability, courage, dark humor, and little splashes of whimsical magical realism, his intricate interweavings of huge numbers of characters, his success with BOTH child actors AND animals, and overall his production of a narrative that feels fresh, brave, and vital--a story that truly deserves to be told--I really think "Moonrise Kingdom" is his best film yet.
So go see it.
Then tell me what you think!
Goodnight!
<3
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