"[66] Review aggregation website Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 84 out of 100, based on 43 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Fox. [63], Finishing its theatrical run on November 1, 2012, Moonrise Kingdom had grossed $45,512,466 domestically and $22,750,700 in international markets for a worldwide total of $68,263,166. The article in the Indian Corn Magazine about Commander Pierce (. Some of the ranks shown on the patches of the Khaki Scouts include Scout Master (Randy Ward), Field Mate (Shakusky), Reptile Patrol (Roosevelt), Woodmaster (Skotak), Judo Expert (Redford), H2O Purifier (Deluca), Bear Spotter (Panagle), Flint Chipper (Panagle), and Petty Bugler (Lazy-Eye). [5] A childhood incident inspired the scene where Suzy reveals her parents' book Coping with the Very Troubled Child.
", "Cannes 2012: Film Festival Kicks Off With World Premiere of Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom', "Wes Anderson's 'Moonrise Kingdom' To Open Cannes", "Watch: Jason Schwartzman's Cousin Ben Hosts A Screening Of 'Moonrise Kingdom' In Wes Anderson-Directed Video", "See Criterion's Wondrous New 'Moonrise Kingdom' Cover Art", "Box office report: 'Men in Black 3' tops Memorial Day weekend with $70M; 'Moonrise Kingdom' huge in limited release", "What to See This Weekend: 'Moonrise Kingdom,' Twice", "Review: Superb 'Moonrise Kingdom' filled with childhood innocence, great performances", "Moonrise Kingdom review: Wes Anderson's moon-cross'd lovers", "Review: Wes Anderson finds near perfect balance in 'Moonrise Kingdom', "The Youthful Magic of 'Moonrise Kingdom', "In Moonrise Kingdom, Watercolors Run Dry", "Ranked: Wes Anderson's Most Memorable Characters", "Wes Anderson Films Ranked From Worst to Best", "Festival de Cannes - From 16 to 27 may 2012", "Agns Varda's 'Faces Places' Cat Wins Palme de Whiskers at Cannes 2017", "Can Moonrise Kingdom Get a Best Picture Nod? [14] While Anderson said that he wrote the part of Captain Sharp imagining the deceased James Stewart playing him, he thought Willis could be the "iconic policeman" once the screenplay was completed. Scout Master Ward tells the Khaki Scouts to use their skills to set up a search party and find Sam. Moonrise Kingdom premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and received critical acclaim, with its themes of young love, child sexuality, juvenile mental health, and the Genesis flood narrative being praised. [46] Macdowell pointed to the characters' books and the production of Noye's Fludde as examples of the "indulgent, excessive, yet attractive neatness" that children in Anderson's films enjoy. [84], At Cannes, the film was in competition for the Palme d'Or,[85] although the only award it won there was the unofficial "Palme de Whiskers" in recognition of the cat, "Tabitha". Although Anderson could not envision one young auditioner, Lucas Hedges, as Sam, he felt the boy was talented enough to be given an important role and cast him as Redford. The movie's sort of set to it.
The set for the Bishop home was constructed and filmed inside a former Linens 'n Things store in Middletown, Rhode Island. Added to the film being bathed in yellows and oranges, remarks are made about maize, Scout Master Ward is seen reading "Indian Corn Magazine" twice, Sam constantly smokes from a corn cob pipe, the three Bishop boys are eating only corn on the cob in one dinner scene, the coffee pot in his Sam's foster parents kitchen has the famous Corning Corn Flower pattern on the exterior, and the end of the film mentions the best corn crop the island has had in fifty years. [9] By September, it grossed $43.7 million, doubling that of Anderson's Fantastic Mr. [31] Academic Timothy Shary placed the story in the cinematic tradition of exploring "young romance" and the resulting strife, with Titanic (1997) and Boys Don't Cry (1999). | A location on the map of New Penzance is labelled "Yeoman Lane", a reference to cinematographer, All the Khaki Scouts have their last names etched right below their rank on the left side of their chest. The play of Noye's Fludde that is performed in itmy older brother and I were actually in a production of that when I was ten or eleven, and that music is something I've always remembered, and made a very strong impression on me. 'Isle of Dogs' tries to make up for that", Come Together: A Fashion Picture in Motion, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moonrise_Kingdom&oldid=1098836061, American coming-of-age comedy-drama films, Indian Paintbrush (production company) films, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 July 2022, at 18:32. Caught fish are dropped through the hole in the lid into the creel for safekeeping. The paintings of the locations around the movie are later seen in the credits. [25][23] Conanicut Island Light, a decommissioned Rhode Island lighthouse, was used for the exterior. The chorus of the song, "Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)" (2018) by the American rock band Fall Out Boy repeats this line. [81], In later years, IndieWire placed Scout Master Ward in Anderson's top 10 most memorable characters in 2015, at ninth place, calling him "completely charming"; the same list also identified Suzy as "one of Anderson's best-drawn female characters". [72] Peter Travers positively reviewed the actors' performances, calling Norton engaging, Balaban "delightful" and Willis agreeable. In 1877, Chief Joseph attempted to lead his people on an eleven hundred-mile journey to Canada to escape the U.S. Army. [60], In its opening weekend, Moonrise Kingdom earned $523,006 in four theaters, setting a record for the greatest gross per theater average for a live action film of $167,371.
Crouch said that in the theater where he saw the film, "the shot showing the dog impaled and inert elicited a shocked, yelping exhale from many people in the audience", and he observed outrage on Twitter. Soundtracks, The dance scene on the beach was saved for the very end of filming, so that the two young leads would be comfortable around each other, and was done on a closed set (just the two leads, co-writer and director, In the film, Laura Bishop shouts at various family members through a bullhorn. [95], In one scene, the dog Snoopy is killed by an arrow in a scene compared to Lord of the Flies by William Golding. [50] The film's final credits feature a deconstructed rendition of Desplat's original soundtrack in the style of English composer Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide, accompanied by a child's voice to introduce each instrumental section.
", "Exclusive Featurette: Original Screenplay Oscar Nominee 'Moonrise Kingdom', "Why Moonrise Kingdom Made Me Feel Uncomfortable", "Sharr White on 'Moonrise Kingdom' by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola", "Bad things happen to pets in Wes Anderson movies. She drew on photographs from the 1960s and the uniforms of Boy Scouts when designing Suzy and Sam's costumes. The words "For Juman" appear in the corner at the very end of the movie. Eventually, a group of Khaki Scouts confronts Sam and Suzy and tries to capture them. [96] This inspired a New Yorker editorial by Ian Crouch, "Does Wes Anderson Hate Dogs?". [71] The New York Times's Manohla Dargis reviewed Anderson and Coppola's screenplay as a "beautifully coordinated admixture of droll humor, deadpan and slapstick".
is a play on words of the following line of dialogue spoken in The Godfather(1972): "Leave the gun. [47] Joshua Gooch observed the dissolve between Sam's artwork and the Moonrise Kingdom beach tied together art with desire. A house in the Thousand Islands region in New York was used as the model for the interior of Suzy's house on the film's set.
The title of the movie comes from the name Sam and Suzy give Mile 3.25 Tidal Inlet when they decide they don't like the name; however, it is only seen at the end, written on the beach in Sam's painting of Moonrise Kingdom/Mile 3.25 Tidal Inlet. However, the scene ends with the image of a swan, perhaps as a reference to it. Though it was filmed in part on Prudence Island, Rhode Island, the map of the island of New Penzance is based on Fisher's Island, New York. During one scene they listen to a recording of Camille Saint-Sans' "Carnival of the Animals". 
", The science fiction book that Suzy carries, "The Girl From Jupiter", bears the name "Isaac Clarke" as the author. Goofs The film opened in only four theaters, two in New York City, and two in Los Angeles, but earned 167,250 dollars per screen, the all-time record for highest per-theater box-office average of a non-animated film. [11] All the child actors were novices. [20], Principal photography took place in Rhode Island from April to June 2011. [79] Rex Reed dismissed it as "juvenile gibberish" displaying "lunatic fragments of surrealism". The filmmakers running the Google search also looked at Cumberland Island in Georgia, and the Thousand Islands. [67] Moonrise Kingdom was also listed on many critics' top 10 lists of the year. [69], Roger Ebert rated the film three-and-a-half stars, praising the creation of an island world that "might as well be ruled by Prospero". Take the cannolis". [40] Following the Genesis narrative, after the New Penzance flood, there is "abundant regeneration" with great harvests of high-quality produce. During the conversation after Redford is carried off to the airplane, there is an old U.S. flag of the original thirteen states seen flying in the background by the police station. [65], Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 94% based on reviews from 262 critics, with an average score of 8.24/10. 
Professor Emma Mason suggested their large house serves as a "mausoleum-like shelter". [35] Critic Geoffrey O'Brien wrote that, while camps are common settings for stories about "innocence" lost, the truer theme was "the awakening of the first radiance of mature intelligence in a world liable to be indifferent or hostile to it". The weather man in the film who gives the warning of the storm that figures into the plot is played- or rather, voiced- by Steve Smith, who is not an actor by trade but, by that point, a retired news anchor. | Suzy and her brothers are called to dinner, while Sam slips out of the window to join Sharp in his patrol car, telling Suzy he will see her the following day. Anderson believed they had never even auditioned before. [55], Focus Features acquired world rights to the independently produced film. The flag of the United States that is shown several times in the movie is the Betsy Ross flag, with thirteen stars in a circle instead of fifty stars. This name references. On the map of New Penzance Island, the island is listed as both 32.265 square miles and 170,359.2 square feet. Ward contacts Sam's guardians, the Billingsleys, and learns they are, in fact, his foster parents, and Sam is an orphan with a history of behavioral issues in the home. [42] Considering the emphasis on symmetry (as opposed to other photographic composition strategies such as the rule of thirds) and color, authors Stephanie Williams and Christen Vidanovic wrote, "Almost every frame in this movie could be a beautiful photograph. The budget for Moonrise Kingdom was $16 million, not $6 million as previously stated. This refers to, While Suzy's books in the movie are fake, "Noye's Fludde" is a real 1957 opera by. The relationship becomes romantic over the course of their correspondence, and they make a secret pact to reunite and run away together. [22] Moonrise Kingdom premiered on May 16, 2012, as the opening film at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival,[56] Anderson's first film to be screened there. [42], In the scene where the Khaki Scouts meet with Cousin Ben, writer Michael Frierson observed how the tracking shot is combined with "clipped, military dialogue". Moonrise Kingdom is a 2012 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, and starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban, and introducing Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. However, the ZIP code, "01012" is the real-life ZIP code for Chesterfield, Massachusetts, a location mentioned in the movie as where Sam's foster family lives. American Humane Association monitored some of the animal action. He performs a "wedding" ceremony, which he admits is not legally binding before they leave. The trivia items below may give away important plot points. [77] Kristen M. Jones of Film Comment wrote that the film "has a spontaneity and yearning that lend an easy comic rhythm", but it also has a "rapt quality, as if we are viewing the events through Suzy's binoculars or reading the story under the covers by a flashlight". [29][30] Author Carol Siegel judged the portrayal to be a positive take on "youthful sexual initiation", from a mainly male perspective, but like many other U.S. films she said it missed a female perspective. [27] Hayward was given the cat seen in the film as a pet after the production was concluded. She argued the severity of Sam and Suzy's behavior, and their "profound existential anxiety", indicate the characters were created as products of a more widespread concern for juvenile mental health. [75] For Empire, Nev Pierce declared it "a delightful film of innocence lost and regained". [26] Anderson said the Aaton cameras were ideal for photographing child actors, as they were roughly the same height as the camera set up. [88] Anderson and Coppola were ultimately nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. His picture is on stamps on the letters that Sam and Suzy send, his picture is on Scout Master Ward's desk, and his picture is also in an editorial of the magazine Scout Master Ward reads called "Indian Corn". Tom Hanks is asked the same question by his men when looking for Ryan. Some have multiple ranks (in addition to Panagle, Gadge also holds multiple ranks: Signal Scout, Arrowhead, and Knife Hunter) whereas some have only one (Cousin Ben is only a Legionnaire). The line was reminiscent of a scene from Saving private Ryan. The pair rendezvous, hike, camp, and fish in the wilderness with the goal of reaching a secluded cove on the island. "The Swan", probably its most famous movement, was not played. I feel like the movie could really be something that was envisioned by one of these characters. When Bill Murray is lying in bed, he says "I hope the roof flies off and I get sucked up into space". [19] Camp Yawgoog, an actual Scout camp in Rhode Island, served as the inspiration for the Khaki Scout sets, and many items were borrowed from the camp for props. [36], The narrative features collapsing families,[37] represented by the Bishops' failing marriage.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy. [39], Academic James MacDowell evaluated the film's style as displaying "the director's trademark flat, symmetrical, tableau framings of carefully arranged characters within colorful, fastidiously decorated sets" with "patent unnaturalism and self-consciousness". [48], The dialogue is similarly "stylized" and "mannered" as in other Anderson films, which O'Brien viewed as fitting for "alienated twelve-year-olds who, on top of everything else, must invent a way to communicate with each other". The film cast includes two Oscar winners: The brief shot of the inside of Scout Master Ward's "Indian Corn Magazine" reveals that the magazine is based in Clinton, New Jersey 01012. At Summer's End, Sam is upstairs painting a landscape of Moonrise Kingdom. Leave the Bible." Kara Hayward was cast because she read from the screenplay and spoke naturally as if it was real life. All the Khaki Scouts have a pendant tied to their neckerchiefs, at the base of their necks. While in their treehouse, the Camp Ivanhoe Scouts have a change of heart and decide to help Suzy and Sam. [22] The film was shot at various locations around Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, including: Conanicut Island, Prudence Island, Fort Wetherill, Yawgoog Scout Reservation, Trinity Church, and Newport's Ballard Park. The children dress as animals before floods cause them to seek shelter in the church, Kozlovic observed. On the New England island of New Penzance, 12-year-old orphan Sam Shakusky attends Camp Ivanhoe, a Khaki Scout summer camp led by Scout Master Randy Ward. A creel is used by anglers and fly-fishermen to keep their catch cool. Frierson also judged the moving camera as "smooth, stabilized". Lightning destroys the steeple, but Sharp saves them. [44] The Hollywood Reporter's review by Todd McCarthy described the film as an "eccentric, pubescent love story", "impeccably made". [17], Anderson described designing the maps for the fictitious New Penzance Island and St. Jack Wood Island saying: "It's weird because you'd think that you could make a fake island and map it, and it would be a simple enough matter, but to make it feel like a real thing, it just always takes a lot of attention. "[43] Critic Robbie Collin added that besides the symmetry, many shots are "busy with detail, and if something visually dull has to happen, Anderson embellishes it: when Sam and Suzy retreat to have a quiet heart-to-heart, he places their silent conversation on the left hand side of the frame and an enthusiastic young trampolinist on the right". Sam and Suzy, both introverted, intelligent, and mature for their age, meet in the summer of 1964 during a church performance of Noye's Fludde and become pen pals. I just experienced the period of dreaming about what might happen, when I was at that age. They set up camp, and as the romantic tension between them grows, they dance on the beach and share each other's first kiss. [89], The film was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He put the successful candidates through months-long rehearsals. [6], Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman were regular actors in Anderson's filmography. A scout asks what scout master Ward did before the scouts. It was originally explained that Sam's parents were hit by a drunk truck driver. Suzy's parents take her home. [3], When he was 12, Anderson lived in Texas with two brothers. [9] A short film, Cousin Ben Troop Screening with Jason Schwartzman, also directed by Anderson, was released on Funny or Die to promote the film. [2] Anderson chose Jared Gilman finding him "immediately funny" thanks to his glasses and long hair, and for his voice and personality at the audition. [59] The Criterion Collection released both a DVD and Blu-ray with a 2K restoration on September 22, 2015. [6] Anderson described the 1965 setting as randomly chosen, but added it fit the subject of the Scouts and the feel of a "Norman Rockwell-type of Americana". Suzy's house is decorated with paintings of locations around the island, at the end of the film Sam is making an addition by painting Moonrise Kingdom. Anderson presented her with concepts of how the characters should look. When Sam is surrounded by the Scouts in Lightning Field, he says, "On this spot, I will fight no more, forever! Quotes
During the storm, he decides to become Sam's legal guardian, allowing him to stay on New Penzance Island and maintain contact with Suzy. He assigned Hayward book reading, and had Gilman practice scouting skills. Made on a budget of $16 million, which is, In the fine print of Sam's Khaki Scouts of North America register, it says "The organization will be held harmless in the event of accident or injury. Zaher questioned if the children's sexuality could have been portrayed in a more appropriate way. Meanwhile, the Khaki Scouts have become aware of Sam's absence, finding a letter he left behind stating he has resigned his position as a Khaki Scout. While he told Suzy "I feel like I'm in a family now", academic Donna Kornhaber argued Sam, as an orphan, has a realistic perspective on the difficulties of building a family. Connections [87] Early in the campaign, it was a contender for a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Suzy is shown reading aloud from three of the books during the film. The Scouts flee, and Sam and Suzy hike to the cove, which they name "Moonrise Kingdom." He also interpreted the animated maps as showing a nave style. "[6], After working on the screenplay for a year, Anderson said he had completed 15 pages and appealed to his The Darjeeling Limited collaborator Roman Coppola for help; they finished in one month. (Their characters inspired many Halloween costumes in 2012. Anderson expressed apprehension about the process saying, "there's no movie, if we don't find the perfect kids". [34], J.M. An abandoned Linens 'n Things retail store outside of Newport, Rhode Island was used as a soundstage for the film. [2] He was briefly a Scout,[4] and had acted Noye's Fludde, an opera for children about Noah's Ark. [82] Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine judged Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel as exemplifying Anderson's new leaner style (compared to what Bowen called "bloated speechifying" of past films) and credited editor Andrew Weisblum for "precise, unsentimental editing". The one hundred-year-old camp hasn't appeared in any movie but this one. Opening film at the 65th Cannes Film Festival in 2012. [94] Professor Carol Siegel summed up the portrayal as "delicate and to a large extent inoffensive". Ben works at Fort Lebanon, a larger Khaki Scout summer camp on St. Jack Wood Island run by Ward's superior, Commander Pierce. [52], With many Britten tracks taken from recordings conducted or supervised by the composer himself, the music includes The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Introduction/Theme; Fugue), conducted by Leonard Bernstein; Friday Afternoons ("Cuckoo"; "Old Abram Brown"); Simple Symphony ("Playful Pizzicato"); Noye's Fludde (various excerpts, including the processions of animals into and out of the ark, and "The spacious firmament on high"); and A Midsummer Night's Dream ("On the ground, sleep sound"). [54] The soundtrack album reached number 187 on Billboard's Top Current Albums chart. [97] The Washington Post critic Sonia Rao held up Snoopy's death as a prime example of "[A] particular kind of darkness [that] lurks" in Anderson's filmography, where "[p]ets are so often the victims of the writer-director's quirky storytelling", but argued Anderson's 2018 Isle of Dogs served to remedy this. [80] Postmedia News' Katherine Monk gave a mixed review, calling it "kind-hearted and heavily contrived". [7] Hayward had seen Anderson's 2001 The Royal Tenenbaums and interpreted Suzy as having a secretive nature, similar to that of Margot played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The camera then fades to a shot of the actual campsite Sam is painting from memory, after he and Suzy renamed it. [11], Professor Peter C. Kunze wrote that the story depicts "preteen romance", exploring child sexuality in the vein of The Blue Lagoon. [83] In 2018, Variety named Moonrise Kingdom as Anderson's seventh best of nine films, saying Sam and Suzy did not feel real. There are numerous references to corn.
Largely set on the fictional New England island of New Penzance, it tells the story of an orphan boy (Gilman) who escapes from a scouting camp to unite with his pen pal and love interest, a girl with aggressive tendencies (Hayward). At Camp Ivanhoe, there is a sign visible that says "Fort Lebanon". The Bishop residence contains several paintings of various locations around the movie, including the Bishop residence, Camp Ivanhoe, the New Penzance Post Office, and Fort Lebanon, as well as numerous paintings of ships. Sam and Suzy escape civilization but are always taken "back into twisted knots of communal ties". They made it within forty miles before they were surrounded, and Chief Joseph made his speech. A violent hurricane and flash flood strike, and Sharp apprehends Sam and Suzy on the steeple of the church in which they first met. Wilkins wrote that the story dealt with "existential" questions, with the two young protagonists rejected by society and allying to escape to "a limited existence beyond its boundaries". [61][62] After five weeks, it made $11.6 million. Fall Out Boy also has a song titled "Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today" (2001), which is similar to line that Jason Schwartzman's character says in Rushmore (1998), another Wes Anderson movie: "Tell that stupid Mick he just made my list of things to do today". He found a similarly titled book belonging to his father and remarked, "I immediately knew who that troubled child was. The scene with Sam and Suzy dancing on the beach appears to be based on the painting "Jive" by Jack Vettriano. [44] Roger Ebert identified the color scheme as emphasizing green in the grass, khaki in the Scouts camp and uniforms, and some red, creating "the feeling of magical realism". [36] This dialogue is spoken with "self-aware deadpan" performances. Director Wes Anderson had long been interested in depicting a romance between children. Journalist Jacob Weisberg characterized them as "the ensemble cast".
The narrator, played by Bob Balaban only interacts directly with the other characters once throughout the film, when Captain Sharp, Scout Master Ward and Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are arguing at the dock about how and where to look for Suzy and Sam. )[21] While the filmmakers planned to model the animal costumes on those in real Noye's Fludde productions, they decided instead to fashion them as if they were made for U.S. schools, consulting photographs from Anderson's former school. This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #776. ", which is from the Surrender Speech by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. He wanted to ensure that even if a prop is only briefly seen in the film "you kind of feel whether or not they've got the layers of the real thing in them". [51], The soundtrack also features music by Britten, a composer notable for his many works for children's voices.
[20], Kasia Walicka-Maimone was the costume designer. Together, they paddle to neighboring St. Jack Wood Island to seek out the help of Cousin Ben, an older relative of one of the Scouts.
Travers also credited cinematographer Yeoman for "a poet's eye" and composer Alexandre Desplat for his contributions. [37] As an adoptive father Sharp may not be ready, Tyree wrote, "but [his] lack of self-centeredness sets him apart from other would-be fathers or mentors in Anderson's world". The reference is made more meaningful by the fact that Schwartzman's mother, Talia Shire, played Connie Corleone in The Godfather trilogy. [7] While preparing the script Anderson also viewed films about young love for inspiration, including Black Jack, Small Change, A Little Romance and Melody.
[23][24] [38] Sam is also disowned by his foster family for behaviors like arson while sleepwalking.