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10 Comments
Soohyun Cho
3/31/2018 12:34:39 am
I thought that there were a lot of similarities between Moonrise Kingdom, Amelie, and Coraline. Extensive use of color can be found in all three films and they all have a quirky nature to its storytelling and characters. The narratives' main characters are all misfits/oddballs that interact with the ordinary world around them. Especially Moonrise Kingdom and Amelie seemed to share many similarities, starting from color schemes as well as storytelling devices (utilize a narrator as a main component in the film, etc.). I thought that the three films also shared a common theme -- the concept of childhood, growing up, and their meanings. In Moonrise Kingdom, the contrast between childhood and adulthood is most obvious as seen through the two main characters and their journey to continue naive adventures and escape conformity. In Amelie, Amelie maintains most of her childlike tendencies throughout adulthood, which defines her personality. Coraline is quite literally a child who seeks excitement in her life against the grown up reality of her workaholic parents and an empty house.
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Elissa Shumate
4/2/2018 09:14:26 pm
One of the main things I noticed in Moonrise Kingdom is that there is a lot of symmetry. Wes Anderson likes to put things like people, lighthouses, tents, and doorways in the center of the frame. His shots are very unconventional for mainstream movies. He films a lot from a straight on point of view, which makes shots seem very flat and two dimensional. Also, his colors for the film are very warm and saturated, giving the movie a retro feel. I think it’s so funny how obvious it is that this movie is made by the same man who made Fantastic Mr. Fox. It shows just how strong and unique Wes Anderson’s artistic thumbprint is.
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Andrew Sun
4/3/2018 02:30:00 am
Off-kilter performances and Wes Anderson's trademark aesthetic make Moonrise Kingdom a charming and oddly poignant coming of age film about childhood and love. Commonly using high contrast images with symmetry, Anderson creates a charming world filled with fulfilling characters who exist very much in their own right within an eccentric story. Moonrise Kingdom explores themes of friendship, love, childhood, but more than anything: people and their impact on our lives. Despite knowing each other for a brief period of time, Sam and Suzy are thoroughly convinced that they are in love, and we as the audience are convinced that even if they are not legitimately in love, they certainly believe they are. Part of this charm comes from the two lead actors, newcomers to the scene in this 2012 film and who capture perfectly the childhood innocence of young love. Even more surprising is that these newcomers stand up to their star-studded cast, and the chemistry between the actors come together in a brilliant display. And if there is one thing that Wes Anderson always manages to deliver, even in his less acclaimed films, is a creatively and obsessively detailed movie that delivers on all cylinders that a coming of age movie should, transcending cliche to craft a complex film that is equal parts lighthearted fun and seriously challenging.
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Kate Winterbauer
4/3/2018 12:51:29 pm
Watching Wes Anderson’s film Moonrise Kingdom was really interesting because he has such a distinct cinematography style. It find it so compelling that even between stop motion and live action films, his specific style never changes. Anderson uses a lot of crab camera movement along hallways and such with a very steady camera. I believe there is only one shot in the film where a hand held camera is used and the frame is not completely still. This is when the camera follows Sam and Suzy running through the woods. Most of the film includes shots that move the camera left to right but rarely up and down. There is a use of a variety of different shots sizes. It seemed to me that most of the shots were either medium and long shots or close ups. There were long shots of specific parts of the island and there were also close ups of many of the characters. For example the shots of Suzy and Sam are often close ups when it is just the two of them on their camping trip. To me this creates a sense of intimacy both between the characters and between the characters and the audience. A big theme that is apparent to me in this film is family. On one hand, Suzy is a part of a family that she feels she does not fit into and does not like. Meanwhile Sam is looking for a family because his parents are dead and the foster family he was taken in by no longer want him. Ultimately the two do find a way to be happy in a family and still remain close. Another aspect of this film that I really enjoyed were the costumes and props that were in such vibrant colors and interesting styles.
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Claire Neal
4/3/2018 02:41:18 pm
Wes Anderson sticks to his trademark symbols in Moonrise Kingdom, with perfectly centered, extremely steady shots where the camera only moves in straight lines. The scenic design is also designed for this type of filming, with all the set pieces laid out in straight lines, including having all the Khaki Scouts eat on one side of a table. It also has Anderson's favorite thematic elements of extremely precocious children and adults who don't really know what they're doing. The way that the movie is filmed, along with the soundtrack choice, makes the audience take the film lightly, as a whimsical story. However, the acting and temperament of all the characters are extremely serious, which provides one of the most contrasting tones of any Wes Anderson movie I've seen. A child gets struck by lightning like a Looney Toons character, but there's a huge subplot about a family that is falling apart.
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Timothy Etter
4/3/2018 04:02:10 pm
Man Bites Dog being in the format of a documentary drives home one of the main themes of the film: the egotism and evil of one person can be amplified by others that enable these traits. Benoit is a monster (for lack of a better term): he's bigoted, murderous, greedy, and self-indulgent. With his film crew following him around 24/7, they not only explicitly endorse this behavior (as well as partake in it more later on), but they make it more pronounced. Since Benoit is the center of this documentary, he plays up all of these traits because his crew grants him a platform where these traits are virtuous. Benoit doesn't even praise his crew for doing this either: he doesn't care much for Franco's death, he randomly kills another aquaintance towards the end for no clean reason, and he constantly berates Andre and Remy for their mistakes rather than rewarding them for their loyalty. Whether the film crew continues to follow him due to their fear of being held accountable or their own evil psyche is unclear, but their continued presence further inflates Benoit's murderous, self-indulgent actions.
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Aaron Basharain
4/3/2018 04:03:15 pm
Moonrise Kingdom showcases another film that is blatantly Wes Anderson's visual style. Very flat and symmetrical shots, distinct lateral camera moves. Moonrise Kingdom is about love and adventure with dysfunctional characters and relationships. I think the visual style makes the film feel very surreal, but the underlying topics and themes of the film are very real and relatable.
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Alina
4/3/2018 04:46:48 pm
Moonrise Kingdom is another great example and continuation of Wes Anderson's quirky style, but a live action is a new one to me. However, I found it just as unique and humorus as the previous ones I've seen. Anderson likes his smooth transitions, and I was surprised by the amount of work that must've gone into creating the set up to have the camera pan seamlessly horizontally and vertically at a constant rate. Also impressed at his ability to find these good actors, who had to handle a lot of direct camera contact to make those symmetrical and straight stare.
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Maddie Matsumoto-Duyan
4/3/2018 05:42:29 pm
Moonrise Kingdom is a classic Wes Anderson film. It includes many long, symmetrical shots, pans, and tracking shots. Shots of characters are also often symmetrical, placing the character in the center of the frame and shooting straight on. The orderly appearance of the film reflects the orderly way in which the characters deal with chaotic situations in their lives, like searching for runaways. This makes a potentially serious topic into a much more humorous one.
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Emerson Lin
4/3/2018 05:54:03 pm
One thing interested me in the film Moonrise Kingdom is that all the children act like adults, and all the adults act like children. Sam loves Suzy and the marry each other. Cousin Bin hosted the ceremony for them seriously. In this film, all the children actors and actresses’ characters are just like any other adults characters in other films. They love someone and they have emery. It seems is a film for children due to the element in the film such as boy scouts and storybooks. However, it is actually a story for adults. Wes Anderson can always produced a story childly but actually it is a good story that can catch adults’ attention.
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