The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Wes Anderson’s melancholic dramedy-cum-adventure film follows a film crew, centered around a Jacques Cousteau-like figure; this being an Anderson film, the gallery of characters is extensive and colourful. Bill Murray plays wonderfully the protagonist, a documentarian who lost his oldest friend and partner as well as his edge; the pain is palpable and so is his need to be at the center of attention. Owen Wilson plays, maybe, his heretofore unknown son, a man intent on getting to know his father. Cate Blanchett plays with very Blanchett-unlike vocal cadences a pregnant journalist following the film crew, and that choice feels justified by what her character is; Willem Dafoe is very funny as Zissou’s rather jealous number two man. The film has the director’s signature emotional detachment, but that does not mean it is unemotional, quite the opposite; when the film hits, it really hits.

Aesthetically, the film is as rich as expected: production designer Mark Friedberg creates a number of great-looking sets, at times embracing the artificiality of it all; costume designer Milena Canonero gives the team a nice-looking uniform which nevertheless allows for some variations; cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman fine-tunes the style he developed with Anderson, using lateral camera movement, whip-pans, and exceptional framing. The use of music is typically excellent, from composer Mark Mothersbaugh’s original score to many songs, including Seu Jorge’s lovely voice-and-guitar Portuguese versions of David Bowie’s songs. Henry Selick contributes with the colorful animation of the sea creatures.

As an unrelated bonus, here is a commercial Anderson shot at the time with many of his usual collaborators, which is a fine example of his style: