Phantasmagoria of Melancholic Souls

Rating: 7/10 (24 September 2012)

Moonrise Kingdom is a phantasmagoria populated by melancholic souls, yet Wes Anderson's film is anything but maudlin. He narrates a very original story with a great deal of panache that will keep a grin permanently plastered on your face for 90 odd minutes. The tone is verily set right in the opening sequence which introduces us to the members of the dysfunctional Bishop family. It is a shot embellished with such rich detail that we fail to notice the credits that are pushed out to the edges of the frame.
Suzy Bishop, the troubled adolescent with binoculars permanently slung around her neck appears to be engrossed in a book, but is actually waiting to elope with her classmate Sam Shakusky, a cherubic boy-scout, and wise beyond his years in the worldly ways. Their love for each other is comic, almost ridiculous; yet totally believable. How the eloping lovers are hunted down, separated and reunited forms the meat of the film.
The locale is an incredibly picturesque island photographed in luscious colours. The story is set in a period when smoking was fashionable and people communicated through telegram. The musical score poignantly evokes that era. The characters leap out at us like those 3D cut-outs from a children's storybook. There is a narrator who intrudes into the story with some prescient messages. The mirth is almost always delivered deadpan. It is a story that ends well, full of hope and you can go home with the cockles of your heart warmed adequately.
To label Moonrise Kingdom as a comic fairytale would be too simplistic. The film is liberally strewn with symbols and reading it as a parable would be rewarding, though it might warrant a second viewing.