Cult movie lovers get ready for years of watching ‘Life Aquatic’
Published 9:00 pm Friday, December 24, 2004
Bill Murray topless is funny.
This is one of the comic principles director Wes Anderson understands. He has already made two films with Murray, “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” and he understands the melancholy comedian’s appeal.
| Mess or magic: A sad-sack oceanographer (Bill Murray) goes on another voyage, with many whimsical complications along the way, dreamed up by director Wes Anderson, who doesn’t make films quite like anybody else.
Rated: R rating is for violence, language. Now showing: Alderwood 7, Everett 9, Galaxy 12, Marysville 14, Guild 45th, Meridian 16, Woodinville 12, Cascade |
Their new film, “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou,” is full of odd and charming moments. Seeing Bill Murray without his shirt is somehow both.
It would take another viewing or two for me to decide whether this movie is an amiable mess or a funny-sad classic with a touch of magic. It’s definitely overlong, and its peculiar tone – it wants to be tongue-in-cheek and sincere at the same time – doesn’t always work.
The crazy opening sequence introduces us to Steve Zissou (Murray), a kind of Jacques Cousteau in decline, presenting his latest oceanographic film at an European film festival. His best years are behind him, and on his last trip he lost a colleague to a shark attack.
On the eve of his next voyage, Steve is confronted by a young pilot, Ned (Owen Wilson), who might be Steve’s illegitimate son. He decides to add the young man to Team Zissou, a motley group of underwater explorers with matching powder-blue uniforms and red caps.
Steve’s goal is to track down the elusive, perhaps mythical “jaguar shark” – the one that ate his co-worker – and kill it. He doesn’t really have enough money to fund the voyage and must visit the island estate he shares with his wealthy wife (Anjelica Huston) to beg her for help.
Once at sea, many whimsical adventures happen. These include stealing high-tech equipment from Steve’s better-funded rival (Jeff Goldblum), and getting attacked by pirates.
There is also a pregnant journalist (Cate Blanchett) riding along and working on a profile of Steve. Steve likes her, but she likes Ned. Another tension comes from Claus (Willem Dafoe), Steve’s highly emotional German assistant, who is jealous of Ned’s new status.
None of this is conventional in the least, as Anderson’s method is to keep everything a couple of degrees off kilter. When we see exotic fish, we are aware that they are animated. When we tour Steve’s boat, we see it as a huge stage set with one side cut away, just like the big rooming house in “The Ladies’ Man” with Jerry Lewis.
And then there’s the calypso singer (Brazilian performer Seu Jorge), who throughout the movie performs songs from David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust period – in Portuguese. Why? I don’t know, but I liked it.
“The Life Aquatic” will never find more than a cult, but that’s cool. It’s a movie that sneaks up on you. While I was watching it, I was vaguely aware that it wasn’t “working,” but later its moments of sweetness and goofiness stuck with me.
Anderson (working without Owen Wilson as his writing partner for the first time) is navigating his own peculiar course through American movies. It’s impossible to predict where his films are going, and that makes him a valuable asset indeed.
