The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

[UncleJoey]

Let's not forget that this was an accident. It's supposed to come as a surprise. As an accident, it's set up perfectly. Any more foreshadowing would have been silly. You can't really compare this tragedy to the ones in the other films because those involve human behavior and emotions, while this one was purely mechanical (aided by human negligence).  Like Pete said, it's the reaction to the tragedy that is most important to the film's narrative.

[Two Lane Blacktop]

I think the payoff was when Steve said if he wondered the shark remembers him and everyone put their hand on his shoulders.

This is kinda what I thought, but as I said, I really need to see it again since it all just took me by surprise the first time around.  

2LB

[cowboykurtis]

do you feel the box office performance will have any effect on wes' next attempt? i think it's safe to say that this movie bombed financially. i think its only made 4 million in its first two weeks.

any thoughts?

[Ultrahip]

it probably will effect Wes in some way. not too much, but royal tenenbaums more or less doubled it's budget in grosses and I doubt Aquatic will do that, even though it should.

[pete]

I think Wes already kinda sees the poor performance coming, since he's been kinda smug in the interviews, talking about how he liked Huckabees because Huckabees wasn't afraid to alienate half of its viewers to please the other half...and Anjelica Huston in an interview said that you have to be smart to appreciate the movie...etc.  I think it'll just make Wes more smug.

[MacGuffin]

i think its only made 4 million in its first two weeks.

But weren't the first two weeks when it only played in LA and NY?

[modage]

do you feel the box office performance will have any effect on wes' next attempt? i think it's safe to say that this movie bombed financially. i think its only made 4 million in its first two weeks.

any thoughts?

yes.  i think it'll probably hurt his ego a little bit, although i think as pete said he probably saw it coming.  his next film will probably be a little less out-there and try to win back some (mainstream) audience.  but i was also thinking (and more concerned) with him being able to get disney to give him a decent budget again.  it seems like they're not going to be too happy for losing them atleast 30$ million dollars.

[Two Lane Blacktop]

OK, maybe this is a reach, but do y'all think a drawn-out, awkward title like "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" hurts word-of-mouth for a movie?  

The few friends I have who've seen it just refer to it as "The Life Aquatic," but that's still harder to say than the names of any of his earlier films.  Are people less likely to mention a movie to their friends if they find the name of it awkward to say?  

2LB

[cowboykurtis]

i think its only made 4 million in its first two weeks.

But weren't the first two weeks when it only played in LA and NY?

its been playing 2 weeks nationally --  its made around 4 mil accumulative including the la/ny run -- so essentially its been playing for almost a month now. i definately think disney will be less likely to fund such a large endeavour for wes-- either that or they'll put some larger retraints on him eg. production executives with microscopes - im very suprised by the performance at the box office -- where did the audience go who made tenenbaums a 55million dollar movie? -- the only variable i can consider is that the senior citizen audience was turned off -- when i saw tenenbaums in the theater i can say about 75% of the audience was over the age of 50. when i saw life aquatic there were about 10 walk outs, all of which were senior citizens -- this film's content seems much more "offensive" and less innocent than his previous films -- zissou seemed to have a much more bleek sardonic tone -- for example the second the phrase "bull dyke" was uttered from zissous lips 3 people stood up and walked out -- could be a stretch, but it's the only thing that seems logical.

[Sleuth]

I think "hard to say" titles is something marketing people made up ENTIRELY, and when I say ENTIRELY I mean the idea about of and the people it supposedly affects.

I thought the movie was doing well, both times I saw it there was a much bigger audience than I expected (at least over 30 people) and only on the second time did a group of four people walk out

What are the exact numbers?

[Fernando]

What are the exact numbers?

This weekend take was 4.4 millions, total gross so far is $15,418,007, my guess is that it'll gross between 25 - 35 mil. tops, if it's the latter I don't think Disney will be that mad about it, sure will do better on dvd.

[cowboykurtis]

i stand corrected -- i believe that number is still below expectations

[pete]

well, I think Disney is doing this just to make Wes happy, really.  The studio is building a relationship with the director, for a long-term investment (especially with the up-and-coming claymation project) so it can afford to lose a little domestically--with the international grosses it'll surely break even.   Plus I think Disney semi-gave up on the project in its release, not pushing the film half as hard as the tenenbaums.  but I don't have a TV so you can correct me if I'm wrong.

[socketlevel]

possible spoiler

but did you think richie's suicide scene or dignan getting dissed by futureman were set up better?  I don't think the tragedy was suppose to move you that much anyways (and tragedies in Wes Anderson's films are never that sad--it's the reaction to the tragedy that he's interested in), the death itself was a set up for the final confrontation with the shark, when Ned's death made Steve no longer vengeful or crazy.  I think the payoff was when Steve said if he wondered the shark remembers him and everyone put their hand on his shoulders.

i think richie's suicide was set up perfectly, you first learn how he's in love with his sister to the point of it professionally ruining his life, then you learn how she was a slut the whole time while he was in despair. that's enough to drive anyone mad and suicidal.

in life aquatic, it's just that suddenly owen dies.  if the theme of death somehow was connected to bill murray and owen wilson's characters better, like explore the stuff with his mother more or somehow owen's character could save bill's life more prominantly.  if that was established better, then there is a sense of debt.  the "accident" theory were it should just come out of the blue just because it is in fact is an accident, doesn't gel with me.  that's poor writing, it only ever worked in adaptation because the whole idea of deus ex machina is brought up by brian cox, and therefore the alagator is ironic (or not ironic as the case may be)

i see your point with the final confrontation with the shark.  true, if they had met up with it prior then it wouldn't have as good effect.  i'm just saying that the film needed one or two other scenes, not really knowing what they should be, but knowing the film needed it.  i know the tone of what i'm talking about, not specific scenes.  your right about the pay off with the hands on the shoulder.  I just didn't really feel it.

i find the tragic moments in wes' films catastrophic.  i almost cried like a little girl when ben stiller delivered the line "dad, it's been a rough year."  so far up until that moment i'd been laughing at the very behavior that stiller's character's been producing because of something very tragic, his wife's death.  then when he addresses it directly, and not just reacts like an idiot because of it, my heart went out for the guy.  I think that's my fav scene in any of his films, then Royal puts his hand on his son's shoulder (same act as above but worked better) and says, "I know Chase."  shit man, that's fantastic!  not to mention the music was really amping that scene something fierce!  maybe that scene in aquatic needed better music too; can't really remember it but it wasn't good enough to stand out either.

-sl-

[pete]

little spoilers for all wes anderson's movies galore

yeah but that's exactly as what I've said before--that was a reaction to Chaz's tragedy.  The plane crash was almost played for laughs when it showed Buckley alone in the mountain, surviving the crash.  Buckley's death was as accidental as Ned's, in many respects.
I was sad when Ned died, I didn't feel cheated, but it was not as moving as the ending.  I don't think Wes foreshadows or builds up the tragedies in his films much, in fact, they're usually played off as dark comedy.  Eg. "so we both have dead people in our family", or the opening sequence in Tenenbaums, or Dignan revealing that he's been fired.  Ritchie's suicide was probably a bad parallel.  Maybe everyone else saw it coming, I dunno.  I also felt like their exchange on the helicopter, when Ned read his original letter to Steve (and that's when you find out what Steve meant when he said "the first answer is always") and that was as strong as their bond's ever been, when the father-son arc completes, that's when Ned dies.  I feel like everything's all there, just underplayed.