(screenshot from the film of Suzy waving a kiss at her young lover, Sam)
This is Suzy. She is 'disturbed,' but also beautiful and resourceful. In a runaway-camping expedition with her 12-year-old lover, Sam, she continues to don bright blue eyeshadow and her binoculars (her magic powers). Her sincere, no frills personality and easy likeability despite her 'violent outburts' make me also want to bring out the blue eyeshadow daily. Why not?
Anderson's latest film asks us, in the words of Francis McDormand's character, to 'Stop pitying yourself.' Strange sad characters allow us to see the humor in the depression and the joy that small encounters in life can bring us.
Lastly, the film mocks much of the little inhabited New England coastline (I think of northern Maine...) and its eccentricities while simultaneously celebrating the natural beauty and endearing, straightforward denizens. It's enough to make me start looking for that house to rent on the coast next summer!