Moonrise Kingdom, the New Wes Anderson

Let the love/hate cycle begin anew!

Love.

I refuse to watch the trailer, but I came here to post this…

I am looking forward to seeing this film.

Other than Fantastic Mr. Fox, his career has been one of diminishing returns in the 21st century. I suspect that film worked because it was lean, economical and he only directed it by phone. This looks like a further slip into the abyss of self-parody, and a film that someone in their 40s should not be making.

That said, I’ll see this opening weekend.

Looks like a parody of a Wes Anderson movie.

The more I watch the more I think it looks like it might be a children’s movie. I don’t think it looks like a parody. You have to remember this is actually set in the 60s, not the “every decade between 1950 and 1990 all at once” setting he usually favours.

Schwartzman maybe looks a bit too much.

I don’t always love his films but I really respect how strong his style is and how he develops it, I think it’s easy (and invalid) to argue that he’s just repeating the same old tricks. The directors that I see as “masters” had a unique style that they developed through repetition and distillation.

I hate this modern idea that repeating yourself is a bad thing and that the only good ideas are ones different from the last (this is a total mirage of an idea anyway as no ideas are totally original). Of course some people do need to change their style to develop and I believe that is valid also, it just irks me that an artist of any type gets shit for a totally natural and meaningful approach to developing their art.

Kaigen none of this post was directed at your post other than the first paragraph and the line about Schwartzman. I didn’t assume you were complaining about Anderson’s continuation of his particular style, I was just whining to myself after that point. Unless you disagree with me!!!

I do feel like he’s repeating though, because I don’t feel like he’s actually growing or evolving between films. I think, with the exception of Fantastic Mr. Fox, his films have felt more and more like the repeating of tricks with less heart and intelligence than the film that preceded it. His style is starting to feel forced, which is why it feels like parody to me now. That trailer looked as much like the Wes Anderson of Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore as the Spider-Man parody video does.

As I was viewing the trailer, I was mentally checking off the Wes Anderson-isms; over the top Schwartzman, eccentric Murray, a retro era look and feel, obscure musical selection, slo-mo hand holding, and as always fabulous hats.

The big question is whether all of these combine into a cohesive entertaining story or not. Day one of course, if only to see those fabulous hats.

-Tim

Yes, Day 1 of course. I glanced at the trailer like you would a solar eclipse… just got a vague, general sense of the thing and then looked away. I’m really glad he’s working with kid characters again.

I completely understand both sides of the debate now raging. I loved Rushmore and Tenenbaums so much that I’ll always root for Wes in spite of whatever missteps I felt in Aquatic or Darjeeling. (Mr. Fox was genius but a bit outside the rest of his filmography what with it being puppets and Roald Dahl and all. Hotbox!)

What Moonrise Kingdom has to do to avoid being a disappointment for me is 1) be genuinely funny 2) be genuinely moving and 3) not strain to do one or the other and then fail. I think the smart money is on it being totally excellent.

Looks good.

Hmm, edging ever so close to self-parody…
That said I was totally put off by the trailer for Fantastic Mr. Fox and ended up loving the movie.

You mean like this?

Though to be fair, that is more of a homage.

No, like this!

I disagree but I hope if you do catch it you enjoy it. I will certainly keep the diminishing returns thing in mind while I watch.

I’ve seen the parody and yes it’s a good parody, but people parody Taxi Driver and The Shining and Apocalypse Now and Terminator and Snow White and Adverts and Fashion and Cars ad infinitum. I don’t think seeing and understanding the technique means the technique is invalid.

Hmmm, well yes, that does look like a pastiche of Wes Anderson pastiches from YouTube.

That said … no one does Wes Anderson pastiches like Wes Anderson!

I certainly hope so too. I love, love, love Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox, so if Anderson can make another film on the same level as those I would be delighted to be proven wrong. Also, Ed Norton needs to be in a good movie again. It feels like it’s been a while.

I’m one of those strange Wes Anderson fans that adores The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited. In fact, I think that Rushmore might be my least favourite.

Edit: That’s not to say I don’t like it and Royal Tenebaums. It’s just TLA, and DJ, and FMF are my favourites.

when is wes anderson going to finally do his take on pt anderson, is what i want to know

or the other way around

This just opened Cannes and got a lot of love.

And here’s Bill Murray giving a very Wes Anderson tour of the set.