The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: The overlooked Wes Anderson film

Ah, and with this post I come to the end of my haphazardly put together look at my favorite film of every decade since the 1930s. What better place to finish than with my favorite film of all time? Nowhere, that’s where. Maybe I should just reproduce the 15 page senior thesis paper I wrote on this film when I was in college? Nah, that wouldn’t make particularly good reading to the non-academic reader. Then again, this might not either…

If I were to tell you my favorite film was a Wes Anderson film, what film would you guess it was? Presumably Royal Tenenbaums, perhaps Rushmore. However, it is neither. My favorite film of the 2000s, and of all time, is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. A lot of people, inexplicably in my opinion, consider this a lesser Anderson film. Hogwash, I say! This film has everything you expect from an Anderson film, and it is done to near perfection.

There are few film makers as idiosyncratic as Anderson, I’ll give you that. As such, if you aren’t in tune with his style, you aren’t going to like his films all too much. Still, I find it hard to see what about Anderson people don’t like. His cinematography, particularly his meticulously crafted mise-en-scene, is fantastic. His use of music is rivaled only by the likes of Martin Scorcese and perhaps a couple of others. He knows how to write a great script, both in terms of have excellent dialogue and how the story plays out. He also has fantastic characters, and he gives them all a lot of depth to boot. It’s almost enough to make a man want to see his latest work, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. If only the animation wasn’t so fucking creepy looking from time to time.

The Life Aquatic tells the story of Steve Zissou, played by Bill Murray. He’s a Jaques Cousteau like figure, only he’s at the end of his career, he’s no longer popular, and he’s a drunken lout. He’s just lost his best friend, Esteban, and his latest excursion is to find the shark that killed his friend and kill it in kind. Before he shoves off, however, he meets Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson) who may or may not be his son. Also joining them is Jame Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), a pregnant reporter doing a story on Zissou. The shark becomes a McGuffin, and the story mostly focuses on Zissou’s relationship with Ned, Jane, his wife (Anjelica Huston) and also the adventures the crew has at sea.

This movie didn’t have much trouble getting to back it simply by having Murray and Blanchett in it. Murray may be my favorite actor of all time, and Blanchett my favorite actress. As for Wilson, if only he would have just stuck alongside his dear old friend Wes. His bigger movies, your Shanghai Noons, your Wedding Crashers, have the tendency to be, well, terrible. More to the point, Wilson gets typecasted, and then derided, as being very aloof and lazy. However, in my book he’ll always have a pass because of Wes Anderson’s films. I mean, he co-wrote Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums! He’s good in this movie as Ned, and he does a fine job in every Anderson film. He just gets misused by Hollywood.

This movie is a bit of an idiosyncrasy fest, actually, as both Jeff Goldblum and Harold and Maude’s Bud Cort make appearances. Willem Dafoe is also in the movie. I wish Goldblum would do more things, and more better things. Oh well, as long as he keeps making appearances on the Colbert Report…

So, you’ve got a well put together story with a ton of amusing moments and, as with all Anderson films, some genuine pathos. If any director makes dramedies or tragicomedies or whatever you like to call these kinds of films, it’s Anderson. The cinematography is beautiful and lush. It’s a great movie to see, let alone watch if you follow me. The characters are for the most part great, the dialogue is fantastic, and the music can’t go unmentioned. Well it could, but I don’t want to do that. Again, Anderson throws in a quirk by having Seu Jorge perform David Bowie songs in Portuguese throughout the movie. However, there are some other songs that are quite good and used perfectly, The Zombies “The Way I Feel Inside” comes to mind.

This is a movie I feel far too few people have seen. It is a triumph of filmmaking. Even if you don’t like Anderson’s films, give it a shot. C’mon, it has Bill Murray in it! Everybody loves Bill Murray. That was the entire rationale behind him being chosen to voice Garfield, I assume. There are also pirates. They are still (inexplicably) popular right? I strongly encourage you to see this movie. It’s my favorite film of all time, and I hope you perhaps can enjoy it as well.