Moonrise Kingdom Exemplifies the Wes Anderson Formula for Filmmaking

Indian paintbrush

If you walk around a hip, urban neighborhood in this country, you'll quickly see that Wes Anderson's fingerprints are everywhere. Ever since the 1998 release of Rushmore, the poker-faced romantic comedy that put him on the cinematic map, Anderson's storybook world of prep-school uniforms, vintage paperbacks, and twee apparel has increasingly begun to resemble our own.

This has been a blessing and a curse for the filmmaker, whose subsequent features often rely too heavily on the same ingredients that made Rushmore so unique: Take one lovestruck male protagonist, add a variety of eccentric supporting characters in '60s-mod blazers, put a Kinks record on in the background, make Salinger-esque observations about personal maturity, and pop it into the oven.

Moonrise Kingdom is no exception – it takes place at a Boy Scout camp in the mid-'60s, for Pete's sake – but it's also the most focused of the director's later works. By concentrating exclusively on a deepening love between two pre-teen outcasts, the director's trademark preciousness feels thematically appropriate. It's a childlike film that tells a childlike story. Anderson has never been the deepest director in the world, but Moonrise Kingdom makes it clear that he loves what he loves quite deeply. On Aug. 13, at Porreco College, the film will be screened under the stars at 9 p.m. For a film so committed to maintaining a sense of wonder about the world, it may prove to be the perfect setting. – Dan Schank

9 p.m. // Edinboro University's Porreco College, 2951 W. 38th St. // Bring blankets or lawn chairs for an outdoor screening // edinboro.edu/porreco-college/movies-under-the-stars.html