Soundtracking: The Life Aquatic

Chris Feil wishing Wes Anderson a happy 50th birthday!

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou feels like a transitional film for Wes Anderson, one caught between our perceptions of his “arrival” and the artist himself firming up his trademark approach. At the time of its release, dismissals of Anderson as all affect without substance were starting to take hold. The key traits used against the film were its dollhouse set design, its rudimentary and chintzy sea creatures, and a song score that relied heavily on revamping and repurposing the David Bowie songbook.

But now the (sure, flawed) film defies that perception on rewatch as a something that’s explicitly about living and creating with authenticity...

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