01
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
With The Life Aquatic, Wes is revealing something to us about himself. It’s that he is deeply insecure and fearful: what if he’s not the protege, the budding genius people were saying he was circa 2004?
“Certain aspects...seemed slightly fake”, “his hat is contrived.” These things were said of Director Zissou and sound a lot like the sort of criticism Anderson’s critics make of him now. I’m sure they were saying the same things at the time of Life Acquatic’s release. With this film, Anderson is picturing himself in the twilight of his career and letting us know what he hopes won’t, yet what he’s afraid will be said about him. And he hopes it won’t be true.
In the context of this film, Zissou hasn’t produced a hit documentary in almost a decade. The present film about the jaguar shark is his last-ditch effort at a comeback, but in his heart of hearts he knows the project might not even come to be, and it seems that he, with his many assertions that it’s time to head home mid-project, might ever be determined to self-destruct the project anyway.
When Steve was in the prime of his career he learned he was a father. But he never made any attempt to connect with his son, Ned—he had no time, or need, for a son. His worth spoke for itself in his work. But when, at the time of our film, his grown son introduces himself to Steve, who’s washed up and on the verge of complete irrelevance, Steve is now ready to embrace him. He’s now aware he needs a legacy, and his films may no longer be the ticket.
Young Steve had success and no need for a son.
Prior to meeting Ned, one of his crew members, Klaus, introduces Steve to his nephew, a young fan of Steve’s. Ned dies during the production of the jaguar shark project. Steve learns that what he will be remembered by is not what he is able to conquer, capture, and present to a watching world, but what he can preserve and protect. At the film’s premier, while the film is showing, Zissou is outside the theater with Klaus’s young relative. He presents the young fan with a Zissou ring, a token only members of his crew (standing in as his family) get to wear. As he presents the boy with the ring, the audience inside hoops and hollers their approval of the new film.
World-weary Steve again has notoriety, but no longer needs it. His legacy is carried forward by the ones he carries along with him.
With The Life Aquatic, a young Wes Anderson projects forward to a time later in his career and wonders, through the self-conscious musings of Steve Zissou, what if people “think I’m a showboat, a little bit of a prick?” Think of all the majestic things Anderson’s mind has imagined, sought after, captured, and observed over the years, not least of all, the jaguar shark. And to what does Zissou choose to give his time and attention, forsaking his own moment in the spotlight, that night at his premiere? A lonely little boy, looking for someone to show him how to dream. And we, like the frenzied reporters who follow Zissou as he sneaks out the back with the newest member of his crew, chase after him, eager to catch up.
02
The Beatles: Get Back
The band we meet at the start of Get Back is on the brink of implosion. The present project looks like it might sputter to a halt before really having the chance to come to life. There exists in the group conflict that is too passive to be considered in-fighting, but still, plenty of the wrong words have been said, and the necessary ones left un-said.
However, a switch occurs near the beginning of Part 2 after a cordial, but frank conversation between John and Paul. After this conversation we see a group that was, hours before, weighed down by tension and ego, now experience levity and enjoyment, even in the face of their daunting project.
The band does experience a massive bump in moral and productivity after John and Paul’s conversation, but the fact remains the band has put themselves up to a near impossible feat. The self-imposed date for a live show/film shoot/record drop is upon them and their team, and they must decide whether or not to go ahead as planned or call an audible. During this discussion, Michael, the director brought on to turn these sessions and live concert finale into a documentary, though countless hours of footage has been collected by this point, blurts, “We don’t have a documentary because we don’t have a story (paraphrase).” Peter Jackson would disagree.
I want to say thank you to Mr. Jackson for this work. His touch was light, but purposeful; helpful, and not overbearing; influential, but not imposing. He allowed a story, buried beneath hours of jumbled images and forgotten conversations, to breath and tell itself.
We needed, now more than ever, to see a story unfold about how conversation can create collaboration and creativity where once was apathy and disunity. And I needed that story to be a true one, because I needed to be reminded that collaborative progress and coming together is not just something that happens in feel good movies made for award season accolades, but in real life as well.
03
Saltburn
“No Cars Go” by Arcade Fire was released in August of 2007. Superbad came out in August of 2007. The 2006-set Saltburn depicts its characters encountering these works prior to the time they would have been released in the real world.
When “No Cars Go” rang out through the bar where these Oxford students were gathered, I was annoyed. When the Cattons laughed their butts off gathered around a small television playing Superbad in their home estate of Saltburn about a third of the way through the movie, I was furious. At this point in the movie, the 2005 book titled On Bullshit by American philosopher, Harry G. Frankfurt came to mind (I’d originally heard of Frankfurt’s book at the time of Bohemian Rhapsody’s release, as it was invoked to shed some light on why that movie was so egregiously off-putting).
Frankfurt’s On Bullshit differentiates between “lying” and “bullshitting”, by asserting that liars are still primarily concerned with truth, despite feeling, for one reason or another, that people must be diverted away from it. Bullshitters, on the other hand, could care less what the truth is. It matters little to them and they know it. They’re not motivated to tell the truth, they’re motivated by some self-serving ambition. From On Bullshit’s Wikipedia page:
“[Frankfurt] states that the social expectation for individuals to have and express their opinions on all matters requires more bullshit. Despite a lack of knowledge on a subject matter, for example, politics, religion, or art, there is an expectation to participate in the conversation and provide an opinion. This opinion is likely to be bullshit at times as it is not based on fact and research. The opinion is motivated by a disregard of the truth with a desire to appear knowledgeable or adequately opinionated. Frankfurt acknowledges that bullshitting may not always be intentional but believes that ultimately it is performed with a disregard and carelessness of the truth. Frankfurt argues that this rise in bullshit is dangerous as it accepts and enables a growing disregard of the truth.”
I can’t figure out why I ought to take seriously the opinion of a creator who doesn’t care enough about what they’re saying to avoid including cultural reference points their characters would have no awareness of for reasons as easily findable as release dates.
At one point in Saltburn, Rosamund Pike’s Elspeth invokes Pulp’s 1995 brit pop classic “Common People”, stating that at the time of its release, it was suspected that she was the song’s subject. If only Saltburn had one ounce of the subversive wit and humor contained in “Common People”.
04
The Green Knight
What does Director David Lowery want for Gawain? What King Arthur wants for Gawain is clear, “Is it wrong for me to want greatness for you?” The brand of greatness here displayed by the meek and graceful king is indeed a desirable thing; perhaps this is Lowery’s hope for his not-yet hero.
But Esel hopes to convince Gawain that perhaps goodness offers something that greatness can’t. After all, should Gawain forgo greatness in favor of mere goodness, what might he gain? “Why greatness? Is goodness not enough?” These words are spoken devastatingly by Esel, a sex worker, ever content with eking out the slightest bit of life’s goodness. And yet, she is aware that her goodness does not necessarily lie with Gawain, but in fact, Gawain’s goodness might necessarily lie with her.
The Green Knight, the film and the entity, forces Gawain, a man who exhibits the full range of moral complexities present in a human being, to ask the question, “Are greatness and goodness actually pitted against one another?”