I've been on a movie binge lately. I finally watched Pan's Labyrinth and it's one of my new favorite movies. I'll save it for another post. I just watched The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou and I really like it as well, even though I find it a little bit draggy.
The film is by Wes Anderson (I'm trying to watch all of his films) and I like how everything looks toy-like in this film. I enjoy stop-motion a lot and I'm really sad it's such an under used method of animation these days.
In his films, I feel like there's a "purposely fake" feature for the props and I like how the main character of the story also acts as the narrator. He uses a take/double take technique which shows the character/action, quickly pan to another character/action and pans back.
I especially love it where Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is talking about his ship, the Belafonte. I like how he describes all the various rooms and how the camera pulls to a wide angle instead of having the usual cut-off black screen method. That's the thing I enjoy most about his films.
Steve Zissou's quest to revenge his friend that was eaten by the Jaguar Shark is a particularly interesting one. Apart from that, he is also dealing with a man who might or might not be his son, a journalist and an estranged wife. This film has a lot of in-depth characters, which I think sometimes make you forget the main purpose of his quest (Jaguar Shark).
I was surprised by the hilarious Bowie covers as well. The film is a bit on the dry side and I don't recommend to people who prefer blockbusters (I still don't like them that much). Another thing I was impressed with was the made up sea creatures. It's ironic, because I'm scared of fish but so very oftenly, fall in love with films about the sea.
I'll probably watch this film again over the weekend with my love before he leaves for Europe.
Life in 2016 has been an interesting one so far and I hope it continues to be good to me.
