Moonrise Kingdom & The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson’s latest offering and looks at a pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.

Stellar cast includes Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDomand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman and Harvey Keitel, all which bring their own sense of eccentricity to the well rounded and touching characters. (The only one missing from Anderson’s previous films is Owen Wilson.)  The young actors Kara Hayward and  Jared Gilman (this both their first film) could have easily crossed the line into creepiness in their  ‘love affair’ but they play their roles and love affair with an innocence and quirkiness that’s unique to their characters.

Anderson works with an extremely original story, which at times seems to be told with a sly smile from a character’s point of view or a writer/director who offers this from the heart; slightly over the top, the narrative never looses its charm.

Cinematography looks like a fading Kodak photo, slightly desaturated colors from the mid 1960’s; as if Norman Rockwell had 35 mm camera and a warped scene of Americana.  Still, the stage sets and visuals are all pure Anderson.  Just like one knows it’s a Tim Burton movie from the cinematography, one knows this is a Wes Anderson film.

I like Anderson.  Some of his previous efforts are some of my favorite movies;   The Life Aquatic with Steve Zisso, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore and Bottle Rocket and when I first saw the movie reviews, I knew this movie would not disappoint. It doesn’t;  Moonrise Kingdom is ninety plus minutes of a unique world, from a unique point of view, with clean, crisp and original characters

Right now Moonrise Kingdom has an 84 rating on MetaCritic, fourth highest of it’s current releases.

4.95 Canoes out of 5

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 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Another unique gem in theaters is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  From IMDb “British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its advertisements, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.”

This movie boasts of some of England’s best actors, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton and Maggie Smith and includes Dev Patel who was in Slumdog Millionaire, but in this movie manages the hotel where the foreigners have taken residence.

Truly an original script, that looks at seven different older characters, each whom have their own reasons for moving to India and have different reactions to the life, culture and people of the sub-continent.  Character, story and plot driven, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel whisks the viewer away to a location half way around the world, to seven lives that change in so many ways.

Smartly written, with great acting, this is a movie aimed at the mature viewing audience that is interested in a well told story.  If you’re unable to catch it in a theater, be sure and catch it when it comes out in DVD.

4.75 Marigolds out of 5

Tags: Moonrise Kingdom, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Wes Anderson