The Tao of Steve...Zissou

I wanna be like Steve, Zissou that is. Guys named Steve, it's been posited, are real 'men's men'; strong, virile, catnip for the ladies. Guys such as Steve McQueen or Steve Largent. Donal Logue played the definitive movie role dealing with the subject as a guy named, you guessed it, Steve. He was a round, portly figure of a man with no discernable qualities who'd devoted himself to following the "Tao of Steve". He also got his share of the ladies. And he was named Steve.

Bill Murray's Steve Zissou, on the other hand, is a passionate man, driven by mercurial interests as much as hidden depths, which seems appropriate in a story set under the sea. Or at least underwater. Steve Zissou is a troubled and awkward human being who was once capable of a kind National Geographic documentary greatness, but is now on a mission of simple revenge against the wonderfully under-named "jaguar shark" that ate his research partner (Seymour Cassel).

Roger Ebert is a big fan (sic) of the shark seeking revenge scenario and I'm sure he got the same chuckle I did. When asked about the scientific purpose of hunting and killing the shark that devoured his partner, Zissou replies, simply and matter-of-factly, "Revenge". Revenge may be a dish best served cold but The Life Aquatic is teeming with so much of it (life, that is), that it threatens to go off the rails. Somehow, director Wes Anderson is able to fashion a (semi-) coherent and rather satisfying tale out of the dozen or so simultaneous plotlines. It's much like The Royal Tenenbaums, where the stories each came to their own, if not always, satisfying conclusions.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a more breezily entertaining movie than The Royal Tenenbaums, allowing long, slow moments of characterization and humor to develop its own neat rhythms. In this way, The Life Aquatic is one of the more satisfying late fall endeavors.

This marks Bill Murray's third collaboration with auteur Wes Anderson, and time and rehearsal have only strengthened the bond. In fact, I'd go out on a limb and predict that Murray will garner another Oscar nomination for his work here. The real brains of the outfit, as is often the case is the wife (Angelica Houston) without whom the entire outfit, Zissou-mania if you will, runs adrift and amuck. The rest of the cast falls cleverly into place led by Owen Wilson (Ned or is it Kingsley), who's never better than when he works with Anderson. This is a director who just gets his off-kilter energy, and captures it on-screen. Cate Blanchett is superb as a pregnant journalist who may or may not have an agenda against the Zissou crew. She may also be it's biggest fan. Lastly, Willem Dafoe as Klaus, a German everyman so devoted he's literally brought to tears when Ned crafts a new more modern Zissou team flag and puts a little 'K' in the corner. Call it special K is you will.

The characters are all brilliantly conceived and equally brilliantly named. The passion a writer brings to a story can often be summed up by the originality and interestingness given to the names of even the most minor of characters. The more 'Dude#1's there are, the less the passion. Instead, here we're given Esteban, Klaus, Vladimir, Oseary, PelŽ, the list goes on. This film is a throwback to the giantly ambitious pictures of the 70s when money came second to motivation and profit mostly followed via accident. Generally I could list the things worth remembering from the 70s on one hand, but The Life Aquatic has given us another.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou opens Christmas Day. I could think of worse gifts. Like the boxed DVD of Alien vs. Predator.
Jess Nakaska is an aspiring screenwriter always on the lookout for the next great script idea. He'll let you know if he finds it. Feel free to contact him at jessnakaska@hotmail.com.