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atsmith567
Reviews
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
The most awful film experience of my life!
The Life Aquatic is pure pretentious trash, devoid of humor, wit, and even theme. With this film, Wes Anderson has proved himself to be one of Hollywood's most overrated filmmakers. Watching this film actually makes me question his sanity.
Wes Anderson seems to find humor in superficial, pointless things, such as red hats, sneakers, and characters' accents. Why are red hats and sneakers funny to Wes Anderson, or to people who actually claim to like this movie? I am baffled. There is no wit or cleverness involved in giving characters red hats and sneakers. It's a non-sequiter, and not even a funny one.
And why are people with accents so funny to Wes Anderson? I have an answer: he is racist. The audience is supposed to laugh at the fact that there is a German, a Brazillian and an Indian on Steve Zissou's crew, simply because these people are not Americans. These characters do and say nothing funny. A Brazillian man singing David Bowie songs is not funny. Wes Anderson is just so unfamilliar with non-Americans that it's funny to him. Everybody who wishes to pretend that this is a good film is forced to laugh along.
This film was unbearable!!!!!
Akarui mirai (2002)
A slow moving (yet good), symbolically rich piece of surrealism
To me, this film seemed to be harshly critical of the youth of Japan. There are distinct parallels between the deadly Jellyfish, and the destructive kids in their Che Guevara shirts. In this film, I believe Kiyoshi Kurosawa may be making the statement that young people in Japan are becoming as passive and destructive as Jellyfish.
If you are not used to slow pacing in films, you may not like this movie, or Kiyoshi Kurosawa's other work for that matter, (or many Japanese films). But if you allow yourself to be immersed in the dreamlike qualities of the film, and pay close attention to its symbols and their underlying social message, you may get something out of the experience.
Also, the film's final shot is amazing, mysterious, elegiac, and a bunch of other good adjectives. If you like this film, you should also see the same director's "Charisma."