WES ANDERSON

Moonrise Kingdom

It’s become more than a cliche around here. I watched a movie, yay! Oh, but, it was like a week ago. Boo! Oh well. I write these like 99.9% for future me to enjoy, and this will be a persistent reminder of just what was going on at this point in my life. I don’t have time for movies, but I sneak them in anyway. I don’t have time to write these, but I do it anyway.

I do think the writing peaked from a quality standpoint a couple of years ago. That’s not really a criticism of me. You are not going to get better at something by not doing it. Plus, while I barely have the time to watch a movie, I have essentially no time to think about it after. I’m using these films as a form of mental salve anyway, rather than anything to be deeply challenged by.

That’s how I came to be watching this one. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve seen it. I’ve probably seen it more than twice and less than ten times. So, yeah, not a new film by any stretch. Which was kind of the point. I wanted to wrap myself in the warmth of the particular way that Wes Anderson is weird. His world view and the logic that undergirds it.

Because Wes Anderson is not a filmmaker who has any pretense that he’s presenting the world as it actually is. No film is really, but most of them at least sort of pretend that they are. This, on the other hand, is an exercise in pure world building. A bit like epic fantasy, or a Marvel film, but in the tiniest way instead of the grandest. But this world doesn’t exist. I just, kind of, mostly, wish it did.

Because it’s an infinitely friendlier one than the one I’m currently inhabiting. So, yeah, I wish I could go and vacation on a weird island in the sixties where the bad guys realize they’re bad and turn good. Where love is enough, and people ultimately do, mostly, the right thing. Where everyone is weird in extremely specific and endearing ways. Yes please, sign me up! - Dec 7th, 2023