For those who don't know it, Hank Williams' hit song of 1952 'Kaw-Liga' tells the story of a wooden Indian statue that falls in love 'with an Indian maiden over by the antique store'. Tragically, since he has a stubborn heart made of knotty pine he is unable or unwilling to approach the maiden. Like Duchamp's Bride and her Bachelors she is destined to remain forever beyond his grasp until eventually she disappears one day, bought by a wealthy customer and the old wooden Indian curses his luck wishing he was still an old pine tree.
This song, along with many other Hank classics, features heavily in Wes Anderson's latest film 'Moonrise Kingdom', an amiable fantasy very much in line with Anderson's previous films in terms of style and direction. Whereas some directors such as the Coens or Daniel Aronofsky move from subject to subject finding material that engages them in different genres, Anderson has invented his own cinematic world and seems happy to endlessly refine it. A similar director perhaps would be Tim Burton in that he has a desire to forcibly project 'his' world onto celluloid, sometimes at the expense of narrative coherence but whereas Burton takes his inspiration from gothic literature and Expressionist cinema, Anderson has less obvious influences to my mind. Maybe a bit of Gatsby here and a soupçon of Jacques Demy there but by and large he has formed his own mode of expression and is thusly hailed by some as one of America's few bona-fide old-school auteurs along the lines of Fellini, Antonioni and Hitchcock. A few others think he is a mere hipster puppet master, all style no substance, all charm and no bite. I hugely enjoyed 'The Life Aquatic' and 'Rushmore' so I suppose I tend to be 'Pro-Wes' in general but I realise that charm, like invective depends on ceaseless inspiration and when the well runs dry there is little to fall back on. Thankfully here Anderson is full of the ol' charm-beans and has made to my mind perhaps his best film yet.
Going back a little, if you took only one frame from any of the afore-mentioned directors' films you could probably identify who made what immediately and Anderson's films share this visual distinctness which in my book is a definite achievement. The art department on 'Moonrise Kingdom' must have worked a huge amount of overtime - every piece of clothing, fabric, wallpaper and decoration is meticulously and beautifully put together and although the film is nominally set in the 60's the overall design doesn't set out to conjure up that era at all but instead presents us with 'WesWorld' where form is content and the medium is absolutely the message. Unlike some of his other films however which are picaresque in the extreme this one has a very definite 3-act story with beginning, middle and end and consequently I think is one of his most impressive efforts. The obsession with uniformity, the search for acceptance in spite of eccentricity, the damage done by quarreling parents to their children and the quest for an authoritarian but lovable father figure are four themes that are found frequently in Anderson's movies and all are present and correct here but whereas in previous films these kind of pop up in a somewhat haphazard way, here they have a stronger narrative force driving them along and the film's overall emotional impact was higher for me compared to some of his other work.
I also found it funnier. The story is like something Enid Blyton or Arthur Ransome of 'Swallows & Amazons' fame would have written had they lived in New York around the time of 'Annie Hall' - basically a tale of ripping Boy/Girl scout derring-do with a bit of existential angst thrown in for good measure. The heroes of the piece are a young boy and girl who decide to run away from the society which surrounds them on a small island off the coast of New England. Both are outsiders, both seek to escape their troubled environments and the story of this escape is done with great lightness of touch and filled with great little moments including humourous cameos from notably Tilda Swinton and Harvey Keitel. Many of the usual Anderson acting stable appear here such as Bill Murray and all are good but the film hangs on the two central performances by the young actors, both of whom are outstanding.
By presenting us this light-hearted story in a space and time which is a few steps removed from our everyday reality it's as if Anderson expresses his feelings of not quite feeling at home in this world and seeks to create some kind of version of his ideal world on the screen, which is perhaps what all film-makers do in some way. Nothing in the frame ever feels as if chance was present in the movie making process and the director's control is always absolute. This approach may eventually lead to stagnation at some point but for now Anderson has given us a little gem of a film that goes some way to answering his critics and makes one wonder where is he going to go from here. And unlike poor old Kaw-Liga I think in creating the world and characters of 'Moonrise Kingdom' he is far more successful in breaking free from the shackles of one reality and materialising the objects of his desire. In a word, charming.
