Post #136023 by tikibars on Mon, Jan 17, 2005 3:33 PM

From my web site (yes, there's more there than Tiki...)

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Directed by Wes Anderson

Starring Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Houston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum

Review by James Teitelbaum
©2004 All Rights Reserved
v.1.2

Wes Anderson’s reputation as a prodigy director is probably a little over rated. His previous three efforts (Bottle Rocket, Royal Tennenbaums, and the strongest of the three: Rushmore) all showed promise, and each did contain moments of genuine brilliance. However all have fallen short of grabbing the brass ring of true genius.

Anderson’s latest feature, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou also contains sparks of savvy, but it misses the mark by a margin slightly greater than it’s predecessors.

This isn’t to say this it is a failure; in fact is a fun little film. But those who would shout Anderson’s greatness from mountaintops will be shouting just a little less boldly this year.

The Life Aquatic is a character study about a Jacques Cousteau-like explorer of the seas, an oceanographer and documentarian named Steve Zissou (Murray). Now in his fifties, Zissou’s latest films are not being greeted with the same enthusiasm as the work of his youth, his second marriage (to Houston, his arch-rival’s ex) is shaky, and his complete lack of seamanship and oceanographic knowledge are at risk of being exposed. Zissou’s latest film documentary deals with an expedition, during which his best friend (also his producer, and sound engineer) is eaten by the mythical jaguar shark. When the film proves a flop, Zissou rallies the crew of his ship, the Belafonte, for a triumphant last mission. To achieve redemption, Zissou must produce a truly great film, capture the jaguar shark, and prove himself to his peers.

Just as the voyage prepares to leave, a man claiming to be Zissou’s 30-year old son shows up (Wilson), as does a pregnant journalist (Blanchett). Both join the voyage.

Chaos ensues.

The rest of the story isn’t really important. This film is about Zissou, and how losing his friend, his career, and his youth change him for better or for ill, and inform his relationships with his rival, his crew, his maybe-son, his wife, and the “bull dyke” journalist.

This film has a lot of clever moments, but they don’t add up to a satisfying whole.

Part of the reason may be Murray’s performance. We are all used to a glib Bill Murray, and in fact his whole career has been based on a general attitude of irreverence in his performances. As Steve Zissou, Murray doesn’t deliver a single line that doesn’t seem backed with a smirk and a complete lack of sincerity. His cheeky delivery works for him when he is doing straight comedy, but it fails him in The Life Aquatic. The film’s dramatic scenes feel just as sarcastic as the comedic scenes, and therefore all pathos for the character is lost.

After his much lauded dramatic turn in Lost In Translation (2003), and the more subdued, borderline comedic / dramatic roles in Anderson’s previous films (Tennenbaums and Rushmore), and even as far back as Groundhog Day (1993), we have seen that Murray can rise to the challenge of juggling the cocky impertinence of his 1980s films with something more substantial. In The Life Aquatic he doesn’t seem willing to make the effort. He traipses through the film not as a tired Steve Zissou, but as a tired Bill Murray.

The rest of the cast is solid; it’s nice to see Dafoe ham it up, Blanchett is transformed, as always, into a completely convincing character, and Wilson never seems to have to stretch too far to play a hick. Jeff Goldblum is great as Zissou’s rival, the rich and successful archetype, always foiling the plans of the downtrodden underdog hero. Of course, he gets his comeuppance in the end.

Seu Jorge plays a crewman who continually plays David Bowie tunes on his guitar... singing them in Portugese. Jorge translated and performed them himself. Mark Mothersbaugh’s musical contribution is in the form of some really cheesy sounding techno pop tracks (supposedly composed by the Belafonte’s crew in their mobile film/sound editing suite). The entire set of the Belafonte was an inspired creeation; both the purposely phony construction (best noticed in a later scene when Murray and Wilson are racing around the boat looking for somewhere to talk privately), and the set dressing, which consists of all sorts of archaic technical equipment, serving to underline the Zissou Society’s financial decline.

The eels, frogs, sharks, and fish in the film are interesting too. To render all of the creatures in the film as really cartoony and fake-looking computer generated characters leant a surreal and fun touch to the film. But we have to wonder: was it a creative touch inspired by a budget issue, or would Anderson have made the characters just as low-fi looking if he’d had George Lucas’ money?

Finally, astute viewers will notice the end credits sequence is lifted directly from Buckaroo Bonzai: Across the 8th Dimension, which also starred Jeff Goldblum. No word yet on his state of deja vu after filming the same credits sequence two times, twenty years apart.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is full of great one-liners, clever running gags, and nice character moments, but ultimately it is a shallow film, and just isn’t as solid an effort as Rushmore, or even The Royal Tennenbaums. Let’s hope that Anderson makes a comeback with his next film, the animated feature The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2006).