The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

I am not a dedicated fan of Wes Anderson (though I like most of his films) but I found The Life Aquatic strangely moving and strangely melancholy. As usual it's a smart film with deadpan dialogue (it's a smart movie but also a slow movie). The story prides itself with tons of quirks and odd characters, among them the guy who performs David Bowie songs in Portugese. Beneath all this is a quite simple story about affection and loss. This film won me over for several reasons. There were a couple of beautiful scenes involving underwater creatures, it has Bill Murray who once again plays this weary kind of person whose greatest self-expression is a sigh. But I never really understood what troubles this guy. And Life Aquatic has some goofy moments that work just fine, and some that are just too much on the slapstick side of what kind of humor I can stomach. And by the way, this is one of those rare movies in which I don't hate Cate Blanchett's mere presence.