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The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Cast:
Steve Zissou: Bill Murray
Ned Plimpton: Owen Wilson
Jane Winslett-Richardson: Cate Blanchett
Eleanor Zissou: Anjelica Huston
Klaus Daimler: Willem Dafoe
Alistair Hennessey: Jeff Goldblum
Oseary Drakoulias: Michael Gambon
Directed by Wes Anderson
Written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach
118 minutes
With his new film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", Wes Anderson cements his rightful place on the top tier
of American filmmaking, demonstrating his eccentric originality, worth and talent at an almost unlimited capacity. About an
ageing oceanographer and his loyal crew of sea-farers on the brink of complete brand-name extinction, Anderson masterfully
blends the qualities that authenticated his past work with a fresh adventurous ambition.
Though it will probably attract a more diverse audience, "The Life Aquatic" may not make the director accessible
to wider audiences, which is their loss, because this is utterly fabulous stuff and will surely delight Anderson's dedicated
following and hopefully spark some well-deserved admiration from lovers of adventurous cinema.
Bill Murray plays the title character, a Cousteau-like deep-sea adventurer and documentary filmmaker. Where "The
Royal Tenenbaums" pieced together the shards of a patriarch and his formerly prominent family, "The Life Aquatic"
focuses on the leader and his Team Zissou in the midst of a downfall, where their competition garners more academic attention
as the team's commercial viability is dwindling. Bill Murray plays Steve Zissou with his trademark humour and once again gives
an inspired performance with authentic emotion. There's a scene late in the film that may well induce tears and his performance
throughout is nothing short of sublime joy.
The flick opens quickly and establishes several story lines waiting to be fleshed out. We learn that Zissou's longtime
exploring confidant and best friend Estaban du Plantier (Seymour Cassell) was killed on the team's most recent expedition,
eaten alive by the possibly-existent Jaguar Shark. Most of the film's character relationships and plot developments can be
traced back to this incident, from Steve's disintegrating marriage with his current wife Eleanor (Angelica Huston) to the
jealousy of his unofficial second-in-command Klaus, played with scene-stealing zeal by Willem Dafoe. Interest in the proceedings
is enhanced with the diverse cast of supporting characters; among the most notable is Pelé dos Santos (Seu Jorge), who provides
most of the film's soundtrack with Portuguese acoustic renditions of David Bowie's greatest hits.
Even though the movie has an inherent feeling of deep sadness, the Wes Anderson pseudo-British brand of humour is still
present. A good portion of it, once again, comes as a benefit from the wide supporting cast. Any scene involving the group
of unpaid student interns tagging along on the expedition becomes a small highlight. The script even pulls its comedic weight
with two dolphins that occupy the lower bowels of the ship Belafonte, and Zissou's continuing inability to understand how
the dolphin ranks among the world's most intelligent animals. Anderson and his co-writer Noah Baumbach have once again presented
characters unafraid to bluntly express their thoughts, quotes like "I think you'll make a very good single mother"
are blunt and devastating, but the dialogue is consistently refreshing with this straightforward quality.
The filmmakers present a lot for the audience to digest with subplots and complex characters in huge abundance. But "TLAWSZ"
never feels overstuffed and all of these elements would easily become jumbled and mashed together with a lesser production
team at the helm. Steve Zissou could have easily been another character experiencing a mid-life crisis, but the reasons for
his anxiety are fully explained with the presence of all of the film's narrative ingredients. He's a grief stricken guy coping
with the sudden appearance of his long lost illegitimate son, Ned (Owen Wilson), the conflicting emotions concerning a journalist
writing a potentially reputation-ruining article (Cate Blanchett), and lagging in competition with his arch-nemesis Alistair
Hennessy (a deliciously camp Jeff Goldblum). (The characters all have great names.) Through all of this we truly understand
Steve Zissou as an overwhelmed man, knowing the implications of one last great adventure.
"Bottle Rocket" was a simple example of potential knocking on the door, "Rushmore" was a realistic
and heavy-hearted portrait of adolescence, and "The Royal Tenenbaums" multiplied the dramatic qualities of both
of those previous films to comprise a brilliant, complex examination of the dysfunctional family.
"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" definitely scores high with its fresh ambition and stunning visuals, and
the quirky genuis of Wes Anderson has created one of the most original adventure films in recent memory. He has provided us
with yet another depiction of true human melancholy - and how it's all so fabulously funny no matter what happens in the end.
In Good Company
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Director:
Paul Weitz
Cast:
Dennis Quaid as Dan Foreman; Topher Grace as Carter Duryea; Scarlett Johansson as Alex Foreman; Marg Helgenberger as Ann
Foreman; Selma Blair as Kim; Malcolm McDowell as Teddy K; David Paymer as Morty
"In Good Company"; is a smarter-than-average romantic comedy with an unpredictable plot and good performances. There
are no flatulence jokes in this one. Juvenile humour, refreshingly, is absent. It features characters who are almost entirely
smart people, who happen to be adults, who actually act like adults. What a concept!
Dennis Quaid stars as Dan Foreman, an advertising executive who finds himself pushed down the corporate ladder a notch
when his company is bought out by free-wheeling business tycoon, Teddy K (another absurd role for the consistently under-achieving
Malcolm McDowell). Teddy inserts his own henchmen to run the publishing company where Foreman works, even though they have
no experience in the publishing business. Foreman loses his job at Sports America magazine to Carter Duryea, a man half his
age who has no experience in the job. At the same time, Foreman finds out his wife, Ann is pregnant and that his daughter,
Alex wants to attend an expensive college. This is when Foreman is faced with a new development which complicates his life.
The interesting thing about the story is the relationship between Foreman and his young boss, Carter Duryea. Although
Duryea starts out as an arrogant interloper, he gradually finds out there is a thing or two about life that he can learn from
the older man. We also learn that his confidence is a front. He is actually scared to death that he is in over his head. Foreman,
on the other hand is confident in his abilities, but has no confidence in his new corporate bosses to do the right thing.
The two form an uneasy alliance out of necessity, but eventually they learn to respect each other.
The three main characters, Duryea, Foreman and Alex are fully explored in the film. We come to understand why each of
them behaves the way they do. The comedy and romance in the film are driven by these characters. The plot does not follow
a conventional path and there are some unexpected twists in the story. This is a better-than-average romantic comedy with
great performances by Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson. There is also a nice supporting performance by Marg Helgenberger.
Clark Gregg also turns in a deliciously evil performance as the heartless corporate henchman, Steckle and the film is expertly
written and directed by Paul Weitz of "About A Boy" fame.
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