Does the fact that Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom is (a) the best Anderson film since The Royal Tenenbaums, (b) an agreeably tidy, very handsomely composed, Jacques Tati-like thing and (c) a box-office success with $40 millon in the till mean it’s a Best Picture contender? Apparently so. Or it is, at least, if you buy what Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone wrote on 8.8 and TheWrap‘s Todd Cunningham wrote on August 9th.

Guys, it’s okay with me. Go to town. I don’t think Moonrise Kingdom works on the level of Rushmore, my all-time Anderson favorite, or first-runner-up Bottle Rocket, so I can’t quite get behind the Best Picture thing. Not at this stage. But it’s a fine, above-average film about young love, and one I wouldn’t mind seeing again on Bluray. Anderson is, of course, perhaps the leading GenX auteur of our time, and respect should be paid, etc.

Co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola and set late in the summer of 1965 on a small New England island called Penzance, Moonrise Kingdom is about two 12-year-olds, Sam and Suzy, who fall in love and take off together.

My only problem with Moonrise Kingdom is Anderson’s refusal to use any tracks from Rubber Soul, which would have been a perfect choice, time-wise.

Once again, my Cannes Moonlight Kingdom tweets:

Tweet #1: “Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is a typical Anderson thing — an exactingly composed, super-dollhouse movie about perfect compositions.”

Tweet #2: “It’s a Little Romance about Sam and Suzy, each 12 years old with eyes only for each other. But cavorting behind a quirky, ultra-dry filter.”

Tweet #3: “But the real Moonrise romance is between Wes and his ultra-exacting, needle-precise compositions — sets, costumes & shots refined to a T.”

Tweet #4: “Very fairy-tale-ish, very precisely composed, kind of masterful. And emotional as far as it goes. But all within a vacuum.”

Tweet #5: “Are there genuine emotional currents running through (or under) Moonrise? Yeah…but mainly in the last third.”

Tweet #6: “Wes is kinda Jacques Tati, whose films are also about Tati and his style and mood strokes. Enjoy the film & story but mainly ‘look at me.'”