MOONRISE KINGDOM

Oddly beautiful. Wes Anderson.’s Moonrise Kingdom, with Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Henry Purcell Theme as soundtrack, is in itself, an orchestral piece. All actions are pictorial and musical compositions and variations on the main theme – adolescent love.

Set in a 1965’s scout camp, the movie takes to the skies the lives of two adolescents, outcasts from expected, proper, where hypocrisy is in some way needed, society. The two twelve year old youngsters, boy and girl, fall in love and run away together. They are persecuted, trapped, separated only to run away again ‘til the final, possibly fatal outcome when they are presented with an alternative – the trust in the world of grown up people. They choose wisely, inappropriately for their age. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are given a different ending, a less probable one, a happy one.

Director Wes Anderson leaves nothing to chance, a perfect ensemble of cast and crew. Superb photography and music set a mood a little too close to grotesque. Still, a work of art.

Cast and crew:

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Director: Wes Anderson

Cast: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman, Bill Murray, Bob Balabam (narrator)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRVM0fOsp9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eOI3AamSm8

LE PRÉNOM

Laughter, poetry and overcoming prejudice. These are the pillars of an excellent comedy by Alexandre de La Patellière and Mathieu Delaporte: Le Prénom, based on a play. A couple invites friends and family over for a quiet dinner. The living room becomes the stage for five people: two couples and a charming musician wrongly believed by all to be gay. Troubles begin when one of the men announces his decision of naming his son to be born Adolphe, with a ph and not an F, a prank. Very much like Carnage, by Roman Polanski, the people who stay in the room argue in ups and downs, exposing their prejudices and their hypocritical politically correct statements. However, not like Polanski who merely deconstructs society to point out its faults, in Le Prénom the character the least expected, the baby’s father, considered by the rest of the group as rough, gives a step forward in a speech about freedom of thinking and tolerance that reminds us of Charlie Chaplin’s in The Great Dictator – a reference actually used in the film.

Another charming reference would be Wagner’s Tannhauser, the story of a knight unhappily in love with Venus. She comes down to the gate of Olympus to welcome him in, when despair is taking away his vital strength. A story that finds mortal representation in the most gentle and open minded of all characters, the musician. It is the final revelation of the arguing, his love affair with a much older woman, the baby’s grandmother. Being looked up by the musician as Venus, she comes down to him, to the gate of her garden, in a foggy night, to welcome him when he finally yields to love and doom.

Artfully directed, Le Prénom is a serious comedy, with a happy ending, spiced by the French irreverence. A delight not to be missed.

Cast and Crew:

LE PRÉNOM (2012)

France

Directors: Alexandre de La Patellière et Mathieu Delaporte

Cast: Patric Bruel, Valérie Benguigui, Charles Berling, Guillaume de Tonquedec…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bgb5_kVR4E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7etjqZmAGs