I consider The Life Aquatic to be the peak achievement of Wes Anderson's phenomenal career, barely edging out the Salinger-esque Royal Tenenbaums and - in my opinion - clearly taking a much more significant place in film history than any of his other works. Life Aquatic has everything that makes a Wes Anderson film special, bending those quirks perfectly to the story (whereas in Darjeeling, Mr. Fox, and Tenenbaums, the story bends, sometimes backwards, to the quirks).
A perfect set of actors, cast perfectly, support the story and give us outlets for all the emotions and questions we as the audience experience. But as much as this film would be destroyed without Wilson, Huston, Blanchett, etc., this is the story of a man. It's the story of a man looking down over the landscape (seascape?) of his life, struggling to avoid regret and fear. Struggling to be sure he can say he created more than he destroyed, that his life was not a story exclusively of entropy.
When Zissou takes Ned up into the sky to indeed, survey that seascape, and asks a seemingly off-the-cuff question, we feel as though Murray is talking directly to us. As though he's not just asking us the question, but asking us to say yes; asking for validation and to be remembered as something larger than what he feels.
Which is, after all, what Royal Tenenbaum was chasing after, if more clumsily. His heroic tombstone, a lie that would be permitted by those who knew better, then come "true" given the right amount of time... Zissou is working the other direction, unwilling to lie to himself (despite pretending otherwise), he is forced to adjust his definitions and to face fears and facts head-on in order to avoid considering himself and his story anything other than semiphenomenal.
This is also the height of the Bill Murray Renaissance. Some may consider Life Aquatic too early to make such a statement, but consider: Murray plays an old man fearing that his days in both life and career are numbered, fearing that he's left behind important things and forgotten to pick up others at all. Perhaps even fearing that the life and career he's losing were mostly a figment of his imagination in the first place. Sound like he'd have a difficult time playing that role? Of course not. And of course, when the film decides it's time to unpack all of the emotions that come along with this transition (a transition we all tend to make at some point), there is a phenomenal efficiency in a single, quiet, soul-shattering moment the likes of which are rare on screen. Somehow, onions always seem to be being chopped in the next room when I'm watching that scene.
It would be uncouth not to remind you, dear reader, after heaping such praise on Murray and his Zissou, that this is the best of the films by directing phenom Wes Anderson, and it takes more than a single (if perfect) character to make that designation. The style is outstanding, from the much-talked about ship cross-section tour to the utterly anti-climactic (or, is it?) action sequence. Each scene has its purpose, each piece of the puzzle is added at just the right time. The Life Aquatic is a masterpiece not only for fans of Wes Anderson and Bill Murray, but also for those aware of life, aware of both how much bigger than life life can be, as well as how much smaller.
A perfect set of actors, cast perfectly, support the story and give us outlets for all the emotions and questions we as the audience experience. But as much as this film would be destroyed without Wilson, Huston, Blanchett, etc., this is the story of a man. It's the story of a man looking down over the landscape (seascape?) of his life, struggling to avoid regret and fear. Struggling to be sure he can say he created more than he destroyed, that his life was not a story exclusively of entropy.
When Zissou takes Ned up into the sky to indeed, survey that seascape, and asks a seemingly off-the-cuff question, we feel as though Murray is talking directly to us. As though he's not just asking us the question, but asking us to say yes; asking for validation and to be remembered as something larger than what he feels.
Which is, after all, what Royal Tenenbaum was chasing after, if more clumsily. His heroic tombstone, a lie that would be permitted by those who knew better, then come "true" given the right amount of time... Zissou is working the other direction, unwilling to lie to himself (despite pretending otherwise), he is forced to adjust his definitions and to face fears and facts head-on in order to avoid considering himself and his story anything other than semiphenomenal.
This is also the height of the Bill Murray Renaissance. Some may consider Life Aquatic too early to make such a statement, but consider: Murray plays an old man fearing that his days in both life and career are numbered, fearing that he's left behind important things and forgotten to pick up others at all. Perhaps even fearing that the life and career he's losing were mostly a figment of his imagination in the first place. Sound like he'd have a difficult time playing that role? Of course not. And of course, when the film decides it's time to unpack all of the emotions that come along with this transition (a transition we all tend to make at some point), there is a phenomenal efficiency in a single, quiet, soul-shattering moment the likes of which are rare on screen. Somehow, onions always seem to be being chopped in the next room when I'm watching that scene.
It would be uncouth not to remind you, dear reader, after heaping such praise on Murray and his Zissou, that this is the best of the films by directing phenom Wes Anderson, and it takes more than a single (if perfect) character to make that designation. The style is outstanding, from the much-talked about ship cross-section tour to the utterly anti-climactic (or, is it?) action sequence. Each scene has its purpose, each piece of the puzzle is added at just the right time. The Life Aquatic is a masterpiece not only for fans of Wes Anderson and Bill Murray, but also for those aware of life, aware of both how much bigger than life life can be, as well as how much smaller.
