Movie Review: Moonrise Kingdom

Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Written by: Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray


For every fan of Wes Anderson's directorial efforts, there are the naysayers who brush off his whimsical comedies as emotionless trifles. While Anderson's style may not be to everyone's taste it's hard to deny the impact of Moonrise Kingdom's wonderful, poignant script.

Set on an island off the New England coast in 1965, Anderson's latest is arguably his best since 1998's cult classic, Rushmore. Twelve-year-olds Sam and Suzy (fantastic newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) fall in love and, after spending months apart while Sam -- a Khaki Scout -- is away at camp, decide to run away together. Suzy's parents (Frances McDormand and Bill Murray) enlist a group of ragtag townspeople, from the Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) to the police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), to help them track down the runaways.

Anderson's sharp script and precocious leads envelope the film in a nostalgic embrace -- despite its fantastical elements it feels grounded in reality, reminding you of your first childhood crush. Suzy treks through the wilderness with her kitten, record player and favourite books to meet Sam, searching for a place to belong. Sam, an orphan, is eager for a sense of family, something he feels Suzy can provide. These two lonely kids are the heart of soul of Moonrise Kingdom and Gilman and Hayward have a natural chemistry together. The duo nail Anderson's dry, witty dialogue.

The rest of the talented cast is comprised of both Anderson regulars and a couple of new faces (Norton, especially, fits in comfortably, taking on a rare comedic role). Like other Anderson films, the stories he creates are detached from the rest of the world -- however, the issues that come up are relatable: first love, impeding divorce, depression and isolation.

In a summer filled with action sequels and comic book superheroes, Moonrise Kingdom is a welcome treat -- funny, sweet and whimsical. It's an elegantly strange confection.

FINAL GRADE: A

Movie Review: We Need To Talk About Kevin

Tilda Swinton

We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011)
Directed By: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller

It's every parent's worst nightmare -- having the antichrist for a child; the very definition of a bad seed.

However, We Need to Talk about Kevin is not a horror film, which makes it all the more horrifying because it's believable.

Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) longs for her days as a travel writer, breathing in the sites and sounds from exotic locales around the world. Instead she's the wife of a simpering, eager-to-please photographer (John C. Reilly) and mother to adorable little Celia (Ashley Gerasimovich) -- and 16-year-old terror, Kevin (Ezra Miller). It's not the life she desired, as she resentfully tells her toddler son in a flashback. From the moment of his birth, Eva and Kevin were enemies -- his every action, his every word, meant to spite his mother. After years of glaring at one another from across the room, everything comes crashing down -- with Kevin winding up in prison for a crime that is only slowly revealed to the audience.

After a nine year absence from behind the camera, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay expertly weaves together a narrative that hops around in time, yet manages to keep a sustained sense of suspense and dread. Although it can be cooly detached from emotion at certain points, it's a gripping family drama that will leave you feeling unsettled from start to finish. Based on the 2003 Lionel Shriver novel, the narrative is told entirely from Eva's point of view -- just how big a role did Eva play in moulding the young man that Kevin became? One thing that is clear is that, more often than not, she appears to regret his very existence. Although some of the films' motifs can be a little heavy-handed (the oversaturation of the colour red, as an example), We Need to Talk About Kevin is teeming with arresting visuals that, in their own way, propel the plot forward.

As Eva, Swinton is a revelation (and was robbed of an Oscar nomination). Not exactly the most nurturing of mothers, Eva's inner conflict is revealed in jagged fragments, in scenes both past and present. She's hard to read, much like her son. However, Swinton has the uncanny ability to build complex characters -- her Eva is both vacant and heartbreakingly tormented over her fear of her own child. She wavers on her feelings towards Kevin -- does she really loathe him or is there some love that can be salvaged from the wreck? Swinton draws you in, regardless of your feelings towards her actions. It's a powerful, subtle performance.

Ezra Miller

As Kevin, Miller is so good in the role, he'll make you rethink having children of your own. He vividly captures every small nuance of the character -- from his unblinking, hardened gaze to his sudden bursts of violence. We know so little about Kevin -- only what his mother knows, which is next to nothing.

Often clad in tiny t-shirts with cartoon characters across the front, Miller is a chilling man-child -- an impassive cipher that Eva circles around wearily, as though waiting for a bomb to go off.

The connection (if it can be called that) between Eva and Kevin is so intense that, more often than not, their interactions need little or no words.

When asked why he did what he did -- why he felt the need to commit acts of senseless violence -- Kevin responds: "I used to think I knew. Now I'm not so sure." 

As in real life, there are no answers. Like many other films on the same subject matter, it evades the "why?" to focus on how and when it came to a breaking point. One thing is for certain: they should have talked about Kevin.

FINAL GRADE: A-