Sharks have never really had a great rep in cinematic history. Jaws established the popular stereotype of those big-jawed dudes as fear-inducing, violin-accompanied agents of dread and death. Sharknado probably didn’t help either. Nobody wants to think about a load of those guys attacking you in a weather cyclone, right? I guess there is a positive portrayal of ye olde shark in Shark Tale, but then again, that movie’s pretty shite. Shite Tale, right?
With The Life Aquatic, the shark in question isn’t exactly a nice guy (although he’s better animated than any of the sharks in Shark Tale. Which isn’t a hard feat to achieve, but y’know). The fact that this shark kills Steve Zissou’s best friend is the film’s driving plot, as Zissou tries to exact revenge by locating killing the animal, losing his son in his quest for retribution. By the time he eventually finds the animal in question, however, he has a change of heart. Its appearance is preceded by a fleeing group of jellyfish , at which point Sigur Ros’ ‘Staralfur’ starts to emerge and bring in some amazing ambience. The stop-motion animated shark doesn’t appear at once, but we just see a glimmer in the distance as Steve and the rest of the crew wait in anticipation.
By the time the illuminated creature reaches the window of the submarine, we can see a shark with some eccentric cross patterns, and instead of attacking the submarine, it rises over the structure and disappears, but not before eating the ship’s engine. Staralfur continues to play over Zissou’s deadpan dialogue informing his crew that they’re most likely in danger, and when he considers if the shark remembers him. It’s a simple moment of poignancy and light comedy that is perfectly articulated through soaring music and parred down acting. Life Aquatic, Wes Anderson’s fourth film, was his first to use a large amount special effects during post-production, and if you’re getting Nightmare Before Christmas vibes from that shark design, then you’re on the mark. Henry Selick designed the creature, and it’s pretty unconventional and intriguing in terms of its overall make-up. Sigur Ros’ emotive tune was played on set during production to get the melancholic vibes grooving. And it’s pretty darn powerful, mesmerising and impressive. Shark Tale, not so much. The less said about that, the better.
Love that scene so much! Despite all the build-up of the mission, he can’t go ahead with it and must let the creature go free. It always reminds me of The Deer Hunter. Never knew it was the same animator as NBC though!
It’s a certified classic. Interesting, I’d never thought of that connection. I didn’t know it was either until I did a bit of research about how the scene was constructed!