Moonrise Kingdom

I had heard a great deal of buzz about this movie through the early parts of the summer but it was not until August that it arrived at our theater. With Wes Anderson as the director and with a stellar cast one was instantly curious about what this simple movie could have to bring such a group together.

The movie set in the mid sixties is about a young boy, 12 or 13, who goes to summer camp, is unpopular, runs away with a local girl he has met, and all that happens as a result of this.

Jared Gilman plays Sam Shakusky an orphan boy who returns for a second year to Camp Khaki s summer camp in New England. The camp's Scoutmaster is Randy Ward, played by Edward Norton. Scoutmaster Ward's real job is as a math teacher but he considers scouting his real calling and takes it very seriously. It is a hoot to see, as he makes his inspections of the camp and scouts, the scout-leader smoking. Different times indeed.

Kara Hayward plays Suzy Bishop. Hayward makes her first movie appearance, she won an open casting call for the role in Massachusetts. Hayward is a member of Mensa and has said that her IQ rates in the highly exceptional range. One guesses she had no trouble remembering her lines.

She is unsettling in her role, with heavy eye shadow like a girl trying to be a woman, and yet bringing her cat when they run away, complete with cans of cat food, and her favorite books. As they seek to get to their idyllic runaway spot, which they name Moonrise Kingdom, she is seen carrying her heavy clunky suitcase.

The cast is exceptional. Truly. Bruce Willis plays the local police captain. Harvey Keitel plays the Commodore of all the khaki scouts on the island. Frances McDormand of Fargo fame plays Suzy's Mom and Bill Murray plays her Dad.

This is a top notch cast and this is a sweet movie. Cute, innocent, heartfelt, escapism is as good a description as one can give. This movie is worth all the buzz.

A final note. It might be time to accept what a treasure we have in Bill Murray. Hard to believe that this man who played on Saturday Night Live in all it's over the top, raucous glory, could be the same actor who can play an understated role such as this in a way that makes it hard to remember how over the top he can be. He is however. Murray with his late night visits, usually in preposterous costume or character, to David Letterman are must see television has reached the point where he does exactly what he wants and only what he wants. I remember hearing a story about he came to take a certain role and the screenwriter described that Murray never answers his phone and one must follow this process of leaving and relaying messages and hoping for the best. Still, once in a role, Murray might be the most underrated actor we have.

Before this movie I saw a preview for the upcoming movie Hyde Park on the Hudson in which Murray will play a Presidential Franklin Roosevelt. Based on the previews he appears to nail it in a way that might be award winning. It is shaping up to be a great year for one who is fast becoming a treasure for his eclectic choices of where to use his enormous talent.