The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
If you haven't noticed, my fellow University of Texas alumnus Wes Anderson seems obsessed with flawed father figures. It's difficult to reach any other conclusion when so many of his films (e.g., Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) concern the topic. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou does so in the most peculiar way so far, setting the story in an even more quixotic version of reality than those films—a semi-invented world of oceanography and documentary. Steve Zissou is a Jacques Cousteau-like figure who sails the seven seas in search of fantastical creatures and adventures to film. When one of those creatures kills his longtime friend and right-hand man, Zissou vows revenge. Adrift in debt and self-pity, he effectively adopts a young man who may or may not be his biological son to bring meaning and legacy to a life that has strayed off course.
Bill Murray plays Zissou with lackadaisical ease, equal parts pathetic and heroic, even as the crew's voyage becomes more and more surreal. The rest of the star-studded cast takes their cue from him, breezing through their roles while adding their own peculiar quirks. But it's Anderson's whimsical filter on the world which gives the film its real charm, even if all the parts never add up to whatever patriarchal sum he was intending.
- May 26, 2009
DVD Extras
The DVD has a fair amount of decent material, including deleted scenes and a brief look at the film's production featuring interviews with the cast and crew. It also has select scene commentary by Anderson and the theatrical trailer.