The Life Aquatic Wes Anderson film analysis
My family and I love going to the Astor theatre because of picturesque backdrops and old style cinematic experience. One night we viewed a Wes Anderson double feature including ‘the Darjeeling limited’ and ‘the grand Budapest hotel’. Wes Anderson being the director of these unique film; I went in with the expectation to see two seemingly different films with your typical comedic feel. I quickly realised having that expectation before a Wes Anderson film wasn’t the greatest idea. Unpredictable, outrageously crude at times and a real black comedic sense of humour rounded out a very peculiar set of films which I somehow really enjoyed viewing.
After viewing these films I wanted to look closer at the diverse style of directing Wes Anderson brought to his films and why these characteristics have made his films so memorable. Therefore after recently watching the life aquatic I wasn’t surprised about the structuring, layering, characteristics, filming, acting, casting, colour palette, Mise en scene, camera techniques, story elements of the film and directing of the film as each Wes Anderson production incorporates these same features.
What I did discover on reflection on these films is that Wes Anderson had particular characteristics which are distinctive and evident in all his films. I realised that in all three films, in particular ‘the Darjeeling limited’ and ‘the grand Budapest hotel’ the main characters are the same.
Tracking shots firstly are the most widely used weapon in Anderson’s technique arsenal. Anderson puts his camera on rails, and let’s it guide, left to right,right to left, and backwards ; it’s a technique that creates movement and energy. This plays a significant role in Anderson’s production as it makes the film feel lively been when the story line may be downright depressing.
Ever since I’ve started getting in depth with Anderson’s films, I’ve found even more common threats that tie them all together and distinguish them. They erred hard films to get settled into because you expected that something spontaneous would occur; which creates a lot of climatic moments in his films. I am a fan of the soundtracks he uses in all his films I’ve seen, his soundtracks are mixture of old iconic 1960’s tunes and quirky synthesised almost futuristic music which is used effectively in the life aquatic to give it that unrealistic cartoony edge.
Anderson used palettes and patterns in all his films to get his point and style across. Anderson’s sharp eye for patterning and for burst of colours gives each of his films a unique feel. For example in the life aquatic Anderson’s camera shows off Zissou’s boat by panning through a giant cutaway version of the ship complete with oblivious crew members; I draw the similarity here to a doll house. Anderson uses an overwhelming number of views that are perpendicular to the walls or ceilings, and low- or high-angle shots are rare, except if you count Anderson’s signature overheads, which still maintain a right-angled vision and are typical in a lot of his films.
As I mentioned before Anderson has managed to cultivate a regular troupe of actors and actresses who consistently appear in many of his productions. The list so as long as it is loaded with talent; Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray (who have had roles in all but one of Anderson’s film) but they’re joined in many of Anderson’s film by Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Eric chase anderson (Wes’ younger sibling) Michael Gambon, Jeff Goldblum Brian cox and many others.
Anderson is in love with the past and it is evident in all of his films and this can be portrayed through the story elements of structuring of time. The grand Budapest hotel and moonrise kingdom may be the toe most significant examples of how nostalgia shapes Anderson’s plots but in the life aquatic elements of the Mise en scene such as the ship and ping island are all very old fashioned and dilapidated.
Overall, seeing Wes Anderson’s work previously, I had many ideas of what to expect in the life aquatic. I enjoyed the satire humour, the madness and chain of unfortunate events which have made Anderson’s films very entertaining. The madness and lack of reality in the Mise en scene is similar to the grand Budapest hotel and is actually quite satirical. For example the scene where Steve Zissou guided the submarine the large shark which clearly isn’t meant to look remotely real comes off as funny and the fighting scenes are over the top and staged. Similarly In the grand Budapest hotel when Willem Dafoe follows Ralph Fiennes on a very unrealistic and over exaggerated skiing chase scene, the Mise en scene is painted and actors are almost puppets which is quite funny and in many senses the production is quite child-like.
