moonrise-kingdom

Innocence in Amber: Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

Rich Juzwiak · 05/26/12 04:30PM

The setting of Wes Anderson's seventh full-length feature, Moonrise Kingdom, couldn't be more crucial. The film takes place on the fictitious New England island of New Penzance in the 1960's. This is a place and time tucked away from harsh realities that understands them only vaguely. The two pubescent children at the center of the story, Suzy (Kara Hayward) and Sam (Jared Gilman), have problems with fitting in and acting out, but the closest anyone gets to putting a label on it is "troubled" (as seen on a book Suzy confiscates from her parents, Coping with the Very Troubled Child). That only scratches the surface of the alienation that comes from his being orphaned and the rage that provokes her to set things on fire and injure people.