Director: Wes Anderson
Cast
Steve Zissou: Bill Murray
Eleanor Zissou: Anjelica Houston
Ned Plimpton: Owen Wilson
Jane Winslett-Richardson: Cate Blanchett
Klaus Daimler: Willem Dafoe
Alistair Hennessey: Jeff Goldblum
Summary:
Steve Zissou is a famous oceanographer/documentarian whose reached the lowest point in his popularity after his latest documentary, which is also the documentary in which his partner is eaten by a mysterious creature that Steve labels a ‘Jaguar Shark’. His next documentary is Steve’s mission to exact revenge. Meanwhile, Ned Plimpton makes a visit to Steve to tell him that he’s his son. But is he?
Review:
This is Wes Anderson’s fourth film, after Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, all three of which I loved to death. I was hoping that this one would be good, too, but this year also had the release of The Village, which is a fourth film by ANOTHER director who made three movies that I loved, albeit not quite as much. Could this be the last movie of the year for me to hate? I wasn’t sure, but I was sure hoping not.
Luckily, The Life Aquatic managed to stay afloat the entire runtime, and only Wes Anderson can make such a beautiful, colorful and quirky movie work as wonderfully as it does. Once again he manages to use the primary colors to their utmost without straining the viewers’ eyes, fills each frame with something to look at, and can milk out some killer laughs just by the wide focus of a shot and the way the characters react – or don’t react – to their environment.
The budget of Life Aquatic is $50 million, which is a few million more than the entire cost of his first three movies combined. One might be concerned with this budget, seeing as how many directors who get more money than they’ve ever had before go overboard with effects and try to have a more ‘special’ cast, and basically sell out and give a far less superior product (Titanic) than their previous efforts.
In Anderson’s case, it only helped to expand the beauty of his vision. I would have to say that the set for Steve Zissou’s ship is impressive beyond description. It’s elaborate and personal in a way that makes it fantastic, but still holds enough realism to not throw the viewer out of the story’s attitude. There’s one sequence in which two main actors go from berth to berth looking for a place to talk alone, but each room is occupied with someone doing something relevent to that particular berthing, and as they proceed higher up on each deck the camera follows in a long tracking shot that doesn’t stop until the top. It was amazing.
We have a lot of returning cast members from Anderson’s older movies, with Bill Murray as Steve, who is in just about every scene. I dig Murray’s more subtle humor over the last 6 years or so, showing his comedic maturity since his days on SNL and in the big hits of the 80s. He’s not a different PERSON, he’s just a lot quieter in his performance and more personal in execution. He does a masterful job as the strangely inept oceanographer who loves the sea but doesn’t really know it that well on a textbook level. Cate Blanchett is the pregnant reporter who wants to interview Steve, but has other agendas on hand as well. Wilson as Ned Plimpton is quiet but effective, and the part of Alistair Hennessey is a perfect fit for Jeff Goldblum. He hasn’t been so cool onscreen since Jurrassic Park, but this is a much better movie! It was neat to see Bud Cort, too. I’m a huge fan of Harold and Maude, and so seeing him in another cooky comedy is a delight. He did play a very small role as ‘John Doe Jersey’ in Dogma, but he gets more screentime in this one; and the material fits him even better than it did in Dogma.
Just about every shot in every scene is the definition of an “Anderson-ism”, from the Portuguese guitarist doing covers of David Bowie songs down to the shootout and chase sequence at the hotel near the end, which reminds me very much of the heist in Bottle Rocket. A man who smashes a walkie-talkie for no reason has never been so funny! Neither has a shootout with yet another tracking shot from one room to another… it’s such a gorgeous movie!
Other wonderful Anderson-isms worth making a small mention: a topless script supervisor, Hennessey’s interns, Zissou’s interns, uncomfortable silence after a failed pass at someone, the Zissou suits, colorful sea creatures, wide shots with every inch filled with something to look at, the final undersea adventure (including the soundtrack – beautiful!), ensemble shots in which every character is posing like they’re waiting for the artist to complete his painter’s sketch (but more appealing than the exploitative use in, say, The Passion)…
What can I say? I loved this movie to death. If you’re already a fan of Wes Anderson, I don’t see how you couldn’t like this one as well, and if you’ve not seen his stuff, or haven’t found his previous work to be that accessible, well I’d say give this one a dander. If you’re not a fan, you might not like this one either, but I would also go so far as to say that this is most likely the movie that will reach the widest amount of audience appeal.
That’s what I hope, at least.
The Life Aquatic doesn’t just float, it soars.
Grade: A-
Reviewed: 12/27/04