Moonrise Kingdom, a Love Story

I don’t do many movie reviews.  I really like movies but I don’t like the “going to the movies experience” so by the time I see them almost everything has been said about them good or bad.  But if a movie isn’t a blockbuster and I REALLY like it and I am in need of some posting material I will give it a shout out on the blog.  Moonrise Kingdome checks each of these boxes.  For some of you, I can sum up the whole of the Moonrise experience with two words –       Wes       Anderson

I think most people love’em or hate’em.  In my opinion he makes some of the best movies out there, I am a big Wes Anderson fan.  Some years back I posted about another Anderson flick The Darjeeling Limited.  I liked that one too.  This guy has a way of making a movie, telling a story that is like no one else.  I love the details.  If I can use an analogy of how he is able to make such a strong connection to his audience, it might be like a HDR (high dynamic range) photograph can remind you MORE of how a place or a scene felt than an “accurate” photograph.  Perhaps a better analogy might be an impressionist painter who can make you feel what is going on in the painting using colors and shapes instead of a photo-realistic representation of the actual scene.  Wes is able to use some lines of imperfect dialog

, quirky props, slightly off camera angle and an impeccable sense of timing when woven together is so much more effective than hitting you over the head with the exact details.  You see this and identify with he character and their situation and that’s what good movies are all about, right?

Some people focus in on one of the components like the dialog or the cinematography and think “this is terrible” or unbelievably boring just like some people look at a Monet and say “it’s just a bunch of dots, what’s the point?”  To each his own.  This is one of mine.

Other Wes movies for your consideration;

2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox

2007 Hotel Chevalier

2007 The Darjeeling Limited

2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2001 The Royal Tenenbaums

1998 Rushmore

1996 Bottle Rocket