The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » May 19th, 2007, 20:06

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is one of my all-time favourite films. It is directed by Wes Anderson, and features most of the same production team that were responsible for Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums which are also great films. Similarly to those two, it also stars Bill Murray, and has a great cast including Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe and Jeff Goldblum.

The film is centred around Steve Zissou who is an oceanographer/marine biologist who is out for revenge on the shark that killed his best buddy. Along the way they have all sorts of adventures, including meeting pirates! If you like Bill Murray, you should love this. The acting is superb and the comedy is sublime. The only person I know who doesn't like it is my missus, and she has shit taste in comedy anyway.

Worth a special mention in the film is the music. The soundtrack is put together by Mark Mothersbaugh who composes the original music, but many of the songs are Portuguese covers of David Bowie songs and they are a permanent feature on my MP3 player.

My favourite moment in the film is where Zissou is showing off the radios built into their helmets, and the slightly awkward dancing he does to the music at the time. This film is a must-see, and I think it is right up the street of 5punkers.

Post by **ProfHawking** » May 19th, 2007, 20:15

Also one of my faves!
The helmet nodding music:
http://www.clintweb.co.uk/random/Ping%20Island.mp3
The Portuguese covers are very cool, done by Seu Jorge. Worth a download i think.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » May 19th, 2007, 20:19

Haha, ace, cheers for that. I believe that the Seu Jorge covers were a late addition to the film after he was just playing guitar on the set. I also love the bit where they tour the ship on that giant cut-out set. Did you know, all the animals are done by stop-motion clay animation, I think by Wes Anderson's brother.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » May 20th, 2007, 10:23

I agree, this film and the soundtrack are both superb. But I can understand the quirky nature of it could put some people off. You should definitely try it though.