[ audio selection | semisonic – fnt ]
scientist: (regarding the shark zissou is hunting) what would be the scientific purpose of killing it?
steve zissou: revenge.
word…last nite tien invited me along with the gothamist crew to a screening of the life aquatic. they were pretty uptight about video recorders and the such, so anybody with a camera phone and/or camera had to check their shit in. yes, because the 0.1 megapixel camera on my phone is able to produce high-quality pirated versions to put up on the internet. but whatev…after those formalities, we got comfortable in the back row of the mezzanine with drinks and a bucket of popcorn and watched the coo-ness that was team zissou.
i personally thought rushmore was the best wes anderson movie before this, but now might concede that title to the life aquatic. there was more depth in terms of development, rockin’ deep sea adventures, and a breadth of characters that all kind of lend themselves to the quirkiness of team zissou. highlights of the crew included klaus (willem dafoe) the jaded german (“im sick of being B-team!“), jane the journalist (a surprisingly emotive cate blanchett), steve zissou (dur), and of course, the unpaid interns.
(right after pirates have raided the ship and the interns are quitting)
steve zissou: im not going to fail you, but im giving you all incompletes.
intern: this sucks.
on a more interpretative note, i liked how the narrative of the story lends itself to a bit of uncertainty in regards to what is “documented” and whats “scripted”…since “the life aquatic” actually refers both to the movie and to the documentary team zissou is purportedly making. this is evident from the very first scene with the first half of his “documentary” being screened, in recurring contrasts between whats “on the record” and “off the record”, and especially illustrated nicely in the “tour” of the belafonte…team zissous ship…and how it is literally treated like a cross-sectioned movie set.
if your a wes anderson fan, you’ll probably want to catch the life aquatic. it rocks yo. and dig the synthesizer theme song. doo do…doo do…doo do…do do…
> the life aquatic website
> tien on the life aquatic
