Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson (2012)

Wes Anderson is a magician of the cinema. He is able to create worlds which are very far from reality and yet enchant us and drown in the nostalgia for what could have been or at least how we would like to remember our past experiences.

Moonrise Kingdom was screened at this year’s Cannes festival which usually indicates a work’s particular value to the world of cinema.

This film is a nostalgic fairy tale squeezing tears of all adults who ever had a childhood.

It seems Wes Anderson here majored in enhancing one’s memories. Everything is extreme to its limits – when it rains, it’s a grand rain of the century, when we see a meadow – its greenery almost makes us shading our eyes from its juicy intensity. The music matches the tone of the story and crafty idea of a child’s voiceover introducing us into the skill of being able to distinguish musical instruments just by hearing them.

Moonrise Kingdom is a beautiful tale which triggered my most beautiful memories coming back to me and I thought of being a child again, of going for a scouts’ camp, of not sleeping with friends, of enjoying every minute of the day and treating it as a never ending adventure and challenge.

Veteran star actors play along young kids and all create an unforgettable ensemble which is credible (that does not often happen with this number of names!). Wes Anderson created a beautiful fairy tale.

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Burn After Reading by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

A pantheon of actors including John Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton. An imaginary story of the intertwined fates of employees of a certain gym and employees of the Pentagon. It is fairly hard to imagine them crossing paths in any ‘normal’ circumstances. The connecting clue is a dating website and in an unlikely fashion a CD with data gathered by the unfaithful wife to blackmail her husband becomes a toy in the hands of a middle aged gym employee who tries to gather funds for her cosmetic surgeries. A twisted story without a clear message. What stays with you for a long time is John Malkovich’s voice dropping the f bomb every other word. The role was written specifically with the actor in mind. Other actors also deal with out of the ordinary roles – Brad Pitt as a retarded gay obsessed with his looks is very convincing. It’s worth a watch.

Laurel Canyon by Lisa Cholodenko

Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale in a not-so-typical tale of a son embarassed by the way of life his mother leads. There is the obvious Chateau Marmont (recently used by Sofia Coppola in Somewhere), there’s Natascha McElhone with Eastern European accent (why?) and all that set in LA at the beginning of 21st century.

The film certainly carries the important cross generational (reversed) lack of acceptance as well as the tribal rites of passage for both the son and his fiancee thanks to his colleague, his mother and his mother’s boyfriend.

An astonishing tale of loyalty, betrayal, doubt and goals in life.

5 stars.