You Can't Run Away From Yourself, Or From Social Services Either.

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2013)

I don't exactly know how to handle this film because I've never seen anything quite like it. It's basically the story of a twelve-year old boy and his young girl friend who run away from home, are pursued by the Boy Scouts and by Social Services, are married in a phony Boy Scout service, and are adopted (or something) by the local law officer, Bruce Willis. But it's so stylized in its presentation that it deserves bonus points for avoiding sentimental and comic cheap shots. I suppose that whether or not it's junk is arguable, but in either case it's not your ordinary Hollywood junk.
The cast is filled with recognizable names in improbable roles -- Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, and others. But, by any measure, the two central figures are Jared Gilman as the near-sighted, talkative runaway Boy Scout and Kara Hayward as the go-anywhere, do-anything, taciturn girl who follows him and carries the luggage and her kitten in a pet carrier.
The thing was shot entirely in Rhode Island and the locations are very attractive. We get to see a lot of them as the young couple trek through the woods and fields from bend of bay to swerve of shore. And, although little demand is placed on the couple as far as acting is concerned -- all they really have to do is recite lines as if learned by rote -- they're remarkably interesting. And their one or two scenes of burgeoning love are touching.
And, I hate to mention this for fear of being taken for a "prevert", but Kara Hayward has beautifully skewed features and dark penetrating eyes. The period is the mid-60s and she wears one of those very short skirts that were popular at the time. So dressed, she looks like a kid in the middle of her growth spurt. But when they fall in the water and she has to loll around in her underwear, it's clear that there is more to Kara Hayward than just spindly limbs. The writer and director must have been aware of this sexual element because they do absolutely nothing to suppress it. By contrast, also deliberate, I assume, the boy, Jared Gilman is a nerdy looking but not unpleasant short kid. Both of them are problem children and Tilda Swinton as the agent of Social Services, salivating over the prospect of putting them in an orphanage, is skewered.
Without undue emphasis, the kids are given personalities, despite the intentionally stilted delivery of the dialog. She reads books of fairy tales and magic, and he sketches and paints. The music department should get a medal. Source music includes classic Hank Williams. The underscore is varied but relies heavily on Benjamin Britten. Under the end credits we hear part of his "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra." The romantic moments aren't really romantic. The kids are just kids, after all. And the adults have assignations that aren't at all romantic. And some of the comic moments could have come from Laurel and Hardy. Gilman stands atop a rock and faces his pursuers in the middle of a field. He's struck by lightning and when he sits up, his clothing and hair smoking a bit, he's in blackface, but he's not hurt.
The story, with all its silliness and preposterous formalization, managed to keep me interested until the end. So Bruce Willis connives to save them from the Wicked Witch. Yet, the kids are "married." I wonder how he handles that.