The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Spine #300)

"I wonder if it remembers me." - Steve Zissou

Here we are again, with yet another of Wes Anderson's amazing films, and in my personal opinion, his very best. With the film, his fourth, we find Anderson has traded in his love of suburban settings and urban quirkiness for the wild and fantastical seas, focusing this tale on an aging legend who many think is far past his prime. Yet, the film still brings along Anderson's fascination with broken families as well as the relationships that build from that brokenness. "The Life Aquatic" also functions as equal parts homage as well as parody of the late great oceanographer/documentary maker Jacques Cousteau, of which Steve Zissou is modeled after. In the character of Steve Zissou, we are also treated to one of the greatest roles of the wonderful Bill Murray's long career, specifically written with him in mind.

"The Life Aquatic" focuses on Steve Zissou (Murray), an oceanographer/documentarian that has found himself well past his prime. He's no longer as beloved as he once was and all of his relationships, ranging from his marriage to his friends, are strained to their breaking points. While filming his most recent adventure, Zissou stumbles upon what he calls a "jaguar shark" that not only eludes him, but kills and eats his beloved friend Esteban. Upon returning, Zissou has resigned himself to heading back out to sea as soon as possible to find this jaguar shark and kill it. Zissou runs into a young pilot named Ned (Owen Wilson) who may or may not be his long lost son. With Zissou being unable to obtain funding for his latest endeavor, Ned, thanks to a recently obtained inheritance, puts up the money for the expedition and also becomes a part of the crew, which itself is made up of cameramen, editors, and many an unpaid intern. Rounding out the lot is a young reporter named Jane (Cate Blanchett) who is a great admirer of Steve's as well as very pregnant under not so wonderful circumstances.

Off and ready to document the finding and destroying of his new found foe, the journey is not quite as easy as Zissou envisioned. Between in-fighting, jealousy, love, a bit of theft, some nasty pirates, and experiencing even more loss along the way, Team Zissou, particularly Steve himself, discover that its much more about the journey than the destination itself. Through it all, Zissou comes to terms not just with his own mortality, but seemingly an understanding of his life as a whole and what it means to him. The whole of it is incredibly moving, and a lot of that rests firmly on the shoulders of Bill Murray.

For his efforts, Murray proves he is far more capable than being just a comedian. His portrayal of Zissou has so many layers to it that it requires repeated viewing to truly appreciate. From his interactions with his estranged wife Evelyn (Anjelica Huston) to his crew to "doing his best" at being a father-figure to Ned, Murray is a cut above in this movie and makes it even harder for me to see where people find fault in the film. He simply is a man that has hit bottom and despite that is still trying to make a go of it and through that discovers something much more powerful than fame or revenge.

Being a Wes Anderson film, one of the main themes is the relationships between the primary characters, mostly ones that are dysfunctional or all-together broken. We are also given to Anderson's amazing since of framing a scene an overall look and feel that are distinctly his. Although his previous works share many similarities, I personally feel that this is the one where everything just fell right into place. None of his films are lacking heart or emotion, but this one delivers on those cues much more profoundly. Oddly, this seems to be the Wes Anderson film that people are the most divided on. It's hard to find someone that has seen "Rushmore" or "The Royal Tenenbaums" and truly disliked them, although there are those that claim they just don't "get" them. "The Life Aquatic", however, seems to have just as many haters as it does fans, which is very strange to me, as I feel it's his strongest work and just doesn't get its fair shake.

There is so much more to go on about. The incredible soundtrack (which Anderson notoriously uses in his films to such a great degree), the rest of the supporting cast (especially Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe), and an overall enjoyable tale that leans a bit fantastical at times, but stays leveled in a very human place. A truly remarkable film, indeed.