The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) - The POV Shot

Personally, I love this film. At one point I read Wes Anderson said he felt it was his worst received movie.
You never know. Art is opinion is life.

(Even the IMDb synopsis makes me laugh from the start: "With a plan to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner..."
What a great opening.)

I think the imagery here, the scenery, story, characters, tone, design, music, performance, dialogue, editing are all great.

A heartfelt yet funny movie. Odd. Interesting. Bill Murray in a different role. Killing it. Frankly, this cast, all day long, please.

Family, history, romance, death, loss, fear, miscommunication, communication, revenge, man vs nature/man/self/all, connection, "team," Bowie songs all over.

I could write twenty posts on this one probably, but one especially stand out tool employed in the piece is the POV shot, a great way to connect audience and character. We see what they see. Too much can be overwhelming for the viewer, over engaging, but in the right amounts, in the right moments, it can be hugely powerful.

There are a few scenes in the film where characters ride in hot air balloons and helicopters.
In these situations Anderson uses momentary POV shots, camera looking down past feet at the waters below. It is surely engaging.

In these moments the audience is hyper hooked into union with the characters. We realize we are on the edge of a deadly fall. We see our altitude, our safety in visual form, we feel it in an animalistic way, perhaps a sister sense to the feeling of eye contact.

Feet, water, speed. With these three items Anderson can clearly communicate to the viewer immediately, visually the fate of the character.

Written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach.

Be well.
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