Dir. Wes Anderson, 2005, USA, 118 mins
Cast: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou tells the story of internationally renowned oceanographer, Steve Zissou, and his team of filmmaking misfits. The film opens at a point in Zissou's life when he has just lost his best friend, Esteban, to a species of shark (the Jaguar) which may or may not exist, his films are losing their appeal and finance is scarce. On top of this, he's about to meet Ned Plimpton, a Kentucky Air co-pilot who may or may not be his son. Armed with his WWII mine sweeper, The Belafonte, a team of un-paid interns and his usual suspect friends, he sets out to avenge the death of his friend, filming the voyage in his usual hap-hazard style.
The Life Aquatic sees the third collaboration between Bill Murray and Wes Anderson (working together previously on Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums), and it's clear that the pair share an unspoken understanding of one another. Anderson seems perfectly happy to let Murray do his thing - which he appears to be getting better and better at as each film goes by - while Murray himself appears to have the utmost trust in Anderson's ideas and intentions - not many people, one suspects, would have Murray pegged for an action hero (his ghost-busting days some 20 years behind him). Anderson commented recently that he found Murray to be a "very powerful force [.] and there's something heroic about him too." And it would appear that Anderson has succeeded in justifying this opinion on screen. Murray's performance is fantastic. He possesses the ability to turn even the most casual, throw-away line into a joke of stupendous weight. His character is one of many levels, displaying egotism, humbleness, childishness and heroism in a single instant. There are few comedic actors around right now that possess the same complexities as him.
But Murray is not the only personality in The Life Aquatic to be trying something new. In Owen Wilson we have an actor who, having become extremely successful in the role of laid-back cool-guy, now finds himself playing an innocently gentile southerner, in awe of his hero and father figure, Zissou. Portraying such an un-assured character shows a significant expansion in his range, and you can only hope it's the beginning of a wider growth.
There are also great performances from the rest of the cast. There's not one of them that doesn't use their screen time to its fullest, adding extra layers to the complexities working within the film's relationships. Willem Dafoe deserves a special mention for his portrayal of Klaus Daimler, Zissou's engineer and surrogate son. Put simply, he's hilarious. Who would've guessed that this Platoon star had such impeccable comic timing?
It will come as no surprise to those familiar with Wes Anderson's films that themes such as love, companionship, falling from grace and strained relationships sit right at the core of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou . Anderson 's unique brand of story telling, with its highly comical, yet deeply moving humanity, has always explored these things, and here he has not altered his course. Even the most minor characters seem to overflow with powerful intricacies that practically demand an entire film in their own right.
Almost as adventurous as the film's characters, it is quite possibly Anderson's most absorbing film yet. Moments of comedic brilliance, such as Zissou's heroic assault on a band of Filipino pirates, dressed only in Speedo, bath-robe and flip-flops, are just a heart-beat away from episodes of potent poignancy. His ability to capture the truly resonating aspects of a relationship is second to none, often focusing on the look-aways, those moments of comfortable silence between two people that can only be found in long-standing connections.
The Life Aquatic is also a departure for Anderson in terms of its visuals. It looks like nothing he's done before. While he admits that he " always [has] a palette of colours, a certain range worked out before [.] shooting ", there's a growth in the link between story and image not apparent in his earlier works. The entire film is shot in a similar fashion to the documentaries of its title character; employing hand-held camera techniques and shots which frequently slip in and out of focus. Not surprisingly then, he turned to acclaimed filmmaker/animator Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) in order to create the film's under-sea life. Selick's stop-motion sea creatures add to this hand-made effect, lending the film a magical quality which would have been lost had Anderson gone the CGI road.
If there's one criticism to be made about Anderson, it's one he's been pulled-up on before, namely his tendency to shift from extreme comedy to utter tragedy without any prior warning. At times this can feel a bit abusive, as if he's toying with your emotions just a little too much. Some people, however, may enjoy this tendency, and it's by no means a reason to avoid his films.
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is at once a highly comical and extremely touching film, filled with moments of pure comic genius and poignant human observation. If you're already a Wes Anderson fan then this will be a welcome addition to your experiences of his work, and if you're not, well, it may just be the one that adjusts your view.
Frazer Ash
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