dir Wes Anderson, scrpl Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, cin Robert Yeoman, ed David Moritz
Jane Winslett-Richardson: [speaking of her unborn baby] In twelve years, he'll be eleven and a half.
Steve Zissou: That was my favorite age.
Everyone in the Wes Anderson oeuvre is a bit lost. His characters constantly struggle with the road not taken, opportunities lost, good graces abused and chances squandered. Yet, as morose and unhappy as they are, often due to their own devices, Anderson treats his characters kindly. More than pity, Anderson shows a genuine affection for the sad, lonely populace of his world.
Steve Zissou (Murray) is an underwater explorer, a red-hatted, speedo wearing Cousteau caricature, and The Life Aquatic is ostensibly a revenge flick. Here, Zissou plays the role of Ahab, chasing the endangered sea creature that has eaten his colleague, Esteban du Plantier (Seymour Cassel). As Zissou explains, “…I'm going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I'm going to set out to find the shark that ate my friend and destroy it. Anyone who wants to tag along is more than welcome.”
But the shark is merely a device, used to propel the story forward. The Life Aquatic is more a meditation on aging, lost youth and attempting to recapture faded glory.
Watching The Life Aquatic immediately after screening Anderson’s previous films, I can’t help but think of The Max Fischer Players. In Rushmore, Max stages elaborate school plays with remarkable special effects, and with this latest film it strikes me that Wes Anderson is Max Fischer.
Anderson has built himself a repertory company of stock players, including Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Seymour Cassel, Kumar Pallana, and Luke & Owen Wilson. Whatever his story, he’ll usually find suitable roles for his cast. And with The Life Aquatic Anderson presents us with a film that is particularly theatrical. From a cutaway ship that’s obviously a set, to a ridiculously fake submarine and the fantastical imaginary sea creatures animated by Henry Selick, the film feels more like an elaborately designed stage play than a feature film.
There is also a stilted quality to this movie, particular in the performances of Cate Blanchett and Owen Wilson, who each perform their roles with exaggerated accents. Both actors come across as stagy in their delivery, and I can’t help but feel that the overacting is an intentional form of theatrical projection.
I seem to remember that when The Life Aquatic was released, it suffered from something of a backlash. Audiences, or critics anyway, felt that maybe Anderson has become too eccentric, his characters a bit too far afield. As a fan of the director’s work I can’t say that I agree. There is, however, a meandering quality to this film, and I think it might be better server by a slightly tighter edit.
To date, this is Anderson’s longest feature. In a departure, it’s also the first of his films not co-authored by Owen Wilson. This time, the writing credit is shared with filmmaker Noah Baumbach, which might help to explain the film’s more languid pace.
While not groundbreaking, The Life Aquatic remains a solidly entertaining entry into the director’s catalog. As a fan of Anderson’s style, I felt a poignance for Zissou’s funk. And the ruminations on being past one’s prime, and the wistfulness for lost youth remain genuinely heartfelt to me. The film resonates.
Only one random observation for today. Wes Anderson has an uncanny knack for hiring actors whose on-screen personalities I tend to despise, and working those personalities into surprisingly effective characters. Tenenbaums’ Chas (Ben Stiller) exaggerates much of the self-loathing neuroses that I’ve disliked in nearly every Stiller character, from There’s Something About Mary (1998) onward. And in this film, Jeff Goldblum’s Alistair Hennessey embodies the smug, self-righteous prick that Goldblum always manages to play. But in both cases the typecasting is surprisingly effective.