Can someone explain 'The Life Aquatic' for me?

I just finished watching it, and I am not sure whether I loved it or hated it. Love all the actors. Loved the art direction and music, esp. the David Bowie in Portugeuse! bwhahahaha

But it was a bit... tedious. Like eccentric wannabe geniuses are.

And the only word that I can think of to possibly describe it is 'absurd'. As in Freudianly absurd. Yes, I saw 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. I liked it better, as the form it was more conventional, but I didn't totally 'get' it, either. I thought Gwyneth was great, though.

This reminded me mostly of 'Head'.

Loved "Tenenbaums" & "The Squid and the Whale". Oddly, I have not seen this film -- what's it about?

haha

It's about this eccentric, delustional, gently megalomaniacal Jacques Cousteau wannabe (Bill Murray), his possible son (Owen Wilson), and the search for a "jaguar shark" that ate his best friend. Very weird. Also starring Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Angelica Houston, many more. Great imagery, hilarious absurdity (Filipino pirates? Little red hats? Standard-issue glocks to all interns?). But I am not sure what the point was, except that it was about Murray's character, Steve Zissou, coming to terms with a sort of midlife crisis, and the abandonment of his son. But it was so absurd that I can't help but that think we're not meant to really get to emotionally invested in the story. I couldn't take any of it seriously.

Sometimes, I dislike plot driven movies-- I just like to see scenes. Which is what "Lost in Translation" was and why it was so brilliant and so misunderstood-- people expected a plot, a resolution of the conflicts introduced.

I just like scenes. They reveal more than most plots do, often.

That is to say, his first and second movies were pretty damn brilliant, but each subsequent one sucks the big banana a little more than the one before it.

It's just a matter of everyone seeing all kinds of promise in a "new" director, and wanting to finance his next blockbuster. Even if the script is shakey and just not very good, there's reason to produce it, in case the public will see it as another stroke of genius.

Directors like that make me think of an observation made about second albums never living up to the first one "You have a whole lifetime to write your first album, and a year to write the second one".

I thought that movie *could've* been brilliant, but the whole eccentric/avant garde/pomo bit was laid on so thick that, like this one, it was impossible to take seriously on any level. Any the art direction wasn't so groundbreaking or beautiful in and of itself to make it a worthwhile endeavor. I give tenenbaums a strong 3.5/5.0. I give this a straight 3. with a warning: absurd.

Left me cold. Too overtly quirky for my taste.

...Liked "Rushmore." "Tennenbaums?" Not so much. "Zissou" had elements I liked, but overall left me flat.

"Hard Eight" was great. "Boogie Nights?" Fantastic. "Magnolia" was tedious. "Punch Drunk Love" bored me.

Rushmore I LOVED. Bingo, indeed.

...and how different their styles are, but the comparison in as far as the parallels of their careers seemed apropos to me.

Plus there were a few scenes shot at my favourite Seattle hotel, the "Vintage Park".

Hard 8 - Great!

Boogie Nights - Great!

Magnolia - Great.

Punch Drunk Love - Meh.



Rushmore - Great.

Royal Tennenbaums - Okay.

Life Aquatic - Meh.



What bugs me is that the Criterion Collection, who are usually pretty reliable, have Tennenbaums and Punch Drunk Love, and not Rushmore or Boogie Nights. :wtf:

I would file this under 'psychedelic sci-fi'. You know?

And I hate sci-fi. Distopias, I can handle (like Gattaca), but sci-fi requires too much of a suspension of disbelief, which I am just not into. Not only was the whole premise ridiculous, but the relationships within it were, too, and just didn't seem to mesh in any meaningful way. The scenes in Head, strangely enough, did add up to something of (albeit minor) significance. Whereas this movie was all scenes which added up to not much.

I thought maybe there were loads of brilliant references that I just wasn't getting or something. ?

Easily in my top 5 of all time. Tight writing and great acting, especially by Bill Murray. I like all Wes Anderson's movies but none of them nearly as much as Rushmore.

That movie is far and away my favorite movie, I could go on and on about the brilliance of that film.
Real quick list of my favorite Wes Anderson Films:
1. Rushmore (simply amazing)
2. Tennebaums (the style and form were great)
3. Bottle Rocket (A smart and fun film, really turned me on to jumpsuits)
4. The Life Aquatic

Why?
Revenge.

It was advertised as a light comedy, but it was something else (I'm still not sure what) instead. I sort of expected Ground Hog Day and wasn't prepared for what was on the screen. What was there wasn't bad, mind you, but you have to be in the right mindset to really appreciate what's going on.