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Quick review of Life Aquatic.
Interesting movie. I liked all the performances, especially Willem Dafoe's (of course, I adore Willem, so I might be slightly biased, but he was really funny), it had great character interactions, and the plot took some very unexpected directions. How unexpected? Let's just say I expected rather less gunfire.
And the music is excellent. There's a strong Bowie theme, which is always a good start. One of the characters is Portuguese and plays the guitar, and Wes Anderson worked that into the movie so that sometimes the character's playing acts as the score. The soundtrack, which I bought right after the movie, features several of the character's songs, some of which happen to be Bowie's, and all of which were translated into Portuguese by the actor. Listening to Bowie songs in Portuguese sung to an acoustic guitar is one of those experiences that is just off-kilter enough to make me kind of glad that the world exists, and in existing, contains people who do things like this.
It also features one of the best uses of a song that I've ever seen. The set-up: Steve Zissou has released the latest in his series of documentaries, and it's gotten a bad reception. When he is introduced to a young man who may or may not be his son, he excuses himself for a moment. There is a very simple scene where he walks to the - prow? stern? the very front end - of the ship and lights a cigarette as the chorus to Bowie's "Life on Mars?" plays. Not only is it a great song, but the lyrics - especially the chorus - are strikingly appropriate for Steve's character on about a hundred different levels. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I mean when I say that Steve is in this song. It is a brilliant choice characterwise, and complements the scene musically, too.
Heh - I was going to end this review by saying that, while I enjoyed Life Aquatic, I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again, but I think I've just talked myself into doing exactly that.
Interesting movie. I liked all the performances, especially Willem Dafoe's (of course, I adore Willem, so I might be slightly biased, but he was really funny), it had great character interactions, and the plot took some very unexpected directions. How unexpected? Let's just say I expected rather less gunfire.
And the music is excellent. There's a strong Bowie theme, which is always a good start. One of the characters is Portuguese and plays the guitar, and Wes Anderson worked that into the movie so that sometimes the character's playing acts as the score. The soundtrack, which I bought right after the movie, features several of the character's songs, some of which happen to be Bowie's, and all of which were translated into Portuguese by the actor. Listening to Bowie songs in Portuguese sung to an acoustic guitar is one of those experiences that is just off-kilter enough to make me kind of glad that the world exists, and in existing, contains people who do things like this.
It also features one of the best uses of a song that I've ever seen. The set-up: Steve Zissou has released the latest in his series of documentaries, and it's gotten a bad reception. When he is introduced to a young man who may or may not be his son, he excuses himself for a moment. There is a very simple scene where he walks to the - prow? stern? the very front end - of the ship and lights a cigarette as the chorus to Bowie's "Life on Mars?" plays. Not only is it a great song, but the lyrics - especially the chorus - are strikingly appropriate for Steve's character on about a hundred different levels. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I mean when I say that Steve is in this song. It is a brilliant choice characterwise, and complements the scene musically, too.
Heh - I was going to end this review by saying that, while I enjoyed Life Aquatic, I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again, but I think I've just talked myself into doing exactly that.
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