Wes Anderson (Part 2 of 3)

twee/twē/

Adjective:

Excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental.

In Part 1 of this second installment of Filmmaker of the Week, I began studying writer and director Wes Anderson by taking a good look at his first two films, BOTTLE ROCKET and RUSHMORE. Here in Part 2, I will be discussing THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, both of which I have had the good fortune to see multiple times over the years. I will then finish up in Part 3 with his most recent efforts, THE DARJEELING LIMITED and FANTASTIC MR. FOX.

Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston) agreed to separate when their children were very young and, after Royal proved time and again that his parenting skills were mediocre at best, Etheline was forced to raise the kids alone, though all three of them seemed to flourish under her care. Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller), the oldest of the three children, was considered a genius in international finance before he had even graduated high school, and he later sued Royal for stealing bonds from him when he was a minor. Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow), the adopted daughter, would go on to become a famous playwright after being awarded a grant for a play that she wrote in the ninth grade. Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson), the youngest of the group, was a tennis prodigy whose accomplishments in the sport earned him worldwide fame and the affectionate nickname "Baumer." But time has not been kind to the Tenenbaums despite their childhood accolades, with Chas turning into an obsessive and overprotective father after the death of his wife in a plane crash, Margot becoming a depressed and secretive loner despite her marriage to renowned neurologist Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray), and Richie forced into a premature exit from the sport of tennis after suffering a nervous breakdown during an important match. But these wayward siblings soon find themselves under one dysfunctional roof again when Royal returns with the news that he has been diagnosed with cancer and now wants to spend more time with his children before his impending demise.

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS is considered by quite a few people to be the best film that Wes Anderson has done and I'm inclined to agree with them. It boasts an all-star cast and, on top of that, Anderson makes use of all of them, with particular acclaim being attributed to Gene Hackman in his role as the absent patriarch of the Tenenbaums. Royal Tenenbaum is a despicable and insensitive man child who was never meant to be a father, unable to grasp the radical notion that he is supposed to put the well-being of his children (or anyone else, for that matter) before his own self interests. But because it's Gene Hackman, we're inclined to give him a chance, especially in contrast to his morose and melancholic children, who now all seem so stiff as adults compared to their father's unrefined and unpredictable behavior. Aside from the stalwart performances, what makes this movie work is how Anderson manages to deftly intertwine these different personalities into a living and breathing family that the audience can invest in and laugh at as their dysfunctions become more and more profound. This is also the first time where I believe Anderson was able to fully the realize his trademark visual style, which is where the word twee, as defined above, comes in, because everything about THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (the characters, the setting, the narrative style, the costumes, etc.) can be summed up with that one little word, to great effect.

It is no secret that I love THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. Its unique characters are all as memorable as the outstanding performances from the actors bringing them to life, the humor is subtle and often deadpan, and it has an emotional core that never quits. If you're only going to see one movie from the mind of Wes Anderson, I recommend that you make it this one. You won't regret it.

Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is a famed oceanographer and documentarian whose career is on a downhill slope when his best friend and longtime business partner is eaten by a "Jaguar Shark," an underwater creature that he intends to hunt down and kill as a part of his next film. Just before he is to set sail with his team, Steve receives an unexpected visit from an airline pilot, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), whose recently deceased mother let slip that Steve was his biological father, a claim that Steve neither confirms nor denies. Regardless, Steve welcomes Ned aboard his research vessel Belafonte and even invites him to be a part of the hunt for the Jaguar Shark, despite the misgivings of his resentful first mate Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe). With pregnant reporter Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett) also taking part in the voyage in hopes of writing an article on Steve, Team Zissou departs in search of the Jaguar Shark, but find themselves forced to overcome a number of obstacles preventing them from capturing their intended target, and Steve is forced to consider what price he is willing to pay in his desperate search for revenge.

To be honest, I struggled writing that synopsis for THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. The plot is a convoluted one and I'm not sure how best to summarize it, because the movie seems to have a bad habit of getting lost at sea amidst its various subplots and character developments. It is with this film that the question of style over substance arises, because here Anderson seems to spend too much of his time focusing on the look of the film, where there is an expected abundance of twee, and not enough time working on a cohesive plot. I love the characters and Bill Murray, whose self-absorbed Steve Zissou is cut from the same cloth as Royal Tenenbaum, almost succeeds in carrying the film on his performance alone, but the actors can only do so much when hampered by a script that seems unsure of where it wants to go or what it wants to be. Everything feels as if it should revolve around Steve seeking revenge against the Jaguar Shark and his burgeoning father-son relationship with Ned, but the film seems to get bogged down in abrupt plot twists and an excess of supporting characters who don't seem to contribute much to the bigger picture, and the meandering plot can be frustratingly dull at times. It has everything going for it, from a top-notch cast to an impeccable visual style to an amazing soundtrack, but the whole never exceeds the sum of the parts, and the movie suffers as a result.

I love the idea behind THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU and the odd look and feel that Anderson was going for, but the film can't seem to balance its characters and deliver a focused narrative. With that said, Bill Murray gives one of the best performances of his career and I can't recommend this enough if you're a fan of his work. He does not disappoint.

I hope you'll check back later for Part 3!