"Life in the Water" is undoubtedly a frustration in Wes Anderson's film career. Although the user ratings are acceptable, he only got 6.2 points in the metacritic media rating, which is his lowest score in the film sequence so far. The film’s box office was not satisfactory. The 50 million production cost only recovered 34 million at the box office. Even Wes Anderson himself reflected on: In the commentary track, he thought that some passages in the film were not well shot, and jokingly mentioned the criticism of the film as "not delicate enough."
However, hidden behind this failure is the first collaboration of two unique filmmakers. The success of Wes Anderson's former partner, Owen Wilson, in his acting career has made him busier. In "Life in the Water", Noah Baumbach collaborated with Wes Anderson on the script for the first time. Baumbach’s film career began at a similar time to Wes Anderson. His first film "Twenty Years of Madness" was released a year earlier than Anderson's "Bottle Rocket" and eventually became a successful low-cost whisper. Nuclear movie. But after filming "Mr. Jealous", Baumbach did not make a film for several years. During this time, he met Anderson and produced "Life in the Water". The collaboration between Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach is very close. Wes Anderson used to be the producer of "Squid and Whale", and the two also collaborated in the subsequent "Great Fox Papa". The similarity and mutual influence between the two are not only reflected in the superimposition of the styles of these collaborative works, but also in their other independent works.
Similar sources of inspiration: childhood, new wave
In terms of inspiration, Anderson and Baumbach both combine autobiographical elements , especially those related to childhood and their early experiences in the creative process. "Bottled Rockets" and "Youth" were filmed in Anderson, Texas, and the latter was filmed in Anderson's high school. For Baumbach, his father was a successful novelist, just like the father of the writer in "The Squid and the Whale". The family scenes in their movies are to some extent an extension of reality.
The French New Wave has had an important influence on both, which is reflected in their overall style and content, as well as through carefully selected allusions. Some film critics regard Truffau’s films as a reference point for "Bottled Rocket" and "Youth and Youth", while Baumbach clearly mentions Houme’s work in "Margot at the Wedding" and even copies it To the preferences of Hoomei. "The Squid and the Whale" includes references to Jean Eustache's "Mother and the Prostitute" and borrows heavily from Louis Mahler's "Curiosity." Considering their common interest in the French New Wave, it’s not surprising that, despite being based on Roald Dahl’s book, the soundtrack of "The Great Fox Papa" also pays tribute to the soundtrack of "Day and Night" . During the filming of Wes Anderson's "French Dispatch", he also arranged for crew members to watch French New Wave films. In the soundtrack of the director's commentary on "Life in the Water", they believed that the film satisfies their common desire to "make a movie".
Fierce family competition
The films of Anderson and Baumbach are often full of fierce competition. In Wes Anderson's films, this kind of competition sometimes exists in the family. In "The Genius Family", children born or adopted compete for their parents' feelings all their lives; the competitive relationship in "Crossing Darjeeling" also exists. Between brothers in the same family. Sometimes this kind of competition exists between friends. For example, in "Youth", when Max and Bloom competed for Miss Cross's affection, their friendship was destroyed. Most of the conflicts between Baumbach's first two films also originated from competition, but most of them were competition between friends. However, since working with Anderson, Baumbach has shifted the focus of competition to the family.
Baumbach used the opening tennis court scene in "Squid and Whale" to establish a brutal family competition . Just like Frank revealed in the tennis match, the whole movie is "Mum and I vs. You and Dad." , And Bernard told Walter how to take advantage of his mother’s weakness. In this movie, Bernard and his wife's career clashed with each other. Their separation created tension and the children watched their parents quarrel. In the repeated Pink Floyd song "HeyYou", the atmosphere of war in the family is strengthened.
"Margot at the Wedding" further explores a competitive family on its basis. In this movie, the intense dialogue at some unexpected moments sounds completely unfamily atmosphere. After his son Claude laughed at the embarrassment of his mother Margot, Margot's reaction to his son Claude almost drowning in the swimming pool was, "Now we are tied." This is very similar to Royle's "no team" in the BB bullet game in "Genius Family". Pauline also pointed out that Malcolm "competes with everyone" because he does not "believe that everyone has room to succeed."
In the later movie "Greenberg", there is also a subtle resentment between the protagonist and his more successful brother. There are similar plots in "Life in the Water" and "The Great Fox Daddy", where the two collaborated. In the former, Steve Zisu competes with his son Ned for Jenny's affection. In the latter, Ash expressed dislike for his cousin's natural athletic talent.
We can see that there are certain similarities in the works of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach . Like Wes Anderson's movies, many of Baumbach's characters have suffered deep emotional damage and are in adolescence with developmental delays. Both directors are concerned about the oppressive potential of the family, and the adult roles in their films are usually less mature than the children. Some scholars attribute the immaturity of the characters in Wes Anderson’s films to the Oedipus complex, and there is also disturbing intimacy in Baumbach’s films. In Margot at the Wedding, Nicole Kidman has a disturbingly intimate relationship with her adolescent son Claude, and her affection for him alternates between love and contempt. In "Squid and Whale", the father and son have a romantic relationship with women; generations similar to Max and Bloom compete for Miss Cross in "Youth", and Ned and Steve compete in "Life in the Water" Jane's love.
Language wars: precision and meanness of dialogue
Wes Anderson’s movie lines are interesting, and one of the more obvious ones is the accuracy of his language, which is reflected in many of his movies. In "Bottled Rockets", Digenan cited the "75-year plan." When describing Margot in "The Genius Family", she emphasized that she was "adopted at the age of 2", and in the "ninth grade" she received a grant of "$50,000". She disappeared "four years later" and left for "two weeks". The characters' own language also connects them to time in this way. Therefore, when a precise number appears in a script co-authored by Wes Anderson and Baumbach, it may well be Anderson's contribution. For example, in "Life in the Water", Steve discussed their route in inches on the map, and in "The Great Fox Papa", Bean asked "three shovels, two axes, and 500 Send a bullet. "This verbal refinement is consistent with the detailed visual style in Anderson's movies, and it also shows their precise attention to things.
The careful study of the lines reflects the important position that dialogue occupies in Anderson and Baumbach's films. In addition to reflecting the quality of their films, it also often reflects the imbalanced parent-child relationship in family competition. This is reflected in the works of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. In "Squid and Whale", Frank tells his mother "You are ugly", and in "Margot at the Wedding", Margot actually tells her son that if he uses deodorant he will suffer cancer. Violent speech is often accompanied by the heartbreak of the characters in the movie. This kind of language reflects the parents' insensitivity to the children in the movie, straightforwardness, lack of empathy, and the lack of emotional connection between the characters. As shown in "Margot at the Wedding". Claude is keen and annoyed by his mother's suppression. In addition, the two directors usually let the characters interrupt each other's words to show the sharp contradiction between the characters.
These vicious words are often contagious in movies. The characters in the two men's films are often critical of the meaning of the details, discuss the correct meaning of the meaning in detail, and insist that one meaning is more important than the other. Daily conversations are turned into elaborate games to reveal that family life is a constant war of words. In "Squid and Whale", after their parents divorced, Bernard and Frank argued between "our house" and "mother's house" which is the correct term. Similar exchanges exist in "The Genius Family".
This infectiousness is more obvious between generations, so that it has a certain genetic trait. Going back to Baumbach's "Squid and Whale", in the opening tennis scene, mother Joan is worried about father Bernard's frustrating curse. In the later development of the movie, we can find that Frank developed a bad relationship with his father and used his inappropriate curse throughout the movie. We have also seen the spread of labels in "The Genius Clan", and Margot's "adoption" label spread in the family. Originally this label was used by Royle and Margot himself, but in the subsequent dialogue between Eli Cash and Rich Trenbauer, Rich inherited this statement. In "Life in the Water", Wes Anderson also thinks in the commentary that Ned actually inherited a part of Steve Chisu's naivety.
Concluding remarks
Naturally, the similarity between Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach's works is still more than that, and their sensitivity and application in the soundtrack are also extremely similar. In "Life in the Water", Wes Anderson abandoned the Rolling Stones soundtrack commonly used in the previous works and adapted David Bowie's works in Portuguese, which is eye-catching. Baumbach used the conversion of in-picture music and out-of-picture music in many films to create surprises.
From the analysis of the works of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, we can see the family theme and the centrality of the quarrel in the two films. This characteristic has continued to ferment and function in Noah Baumbach's works, and the existence of these elements can also be clearly seen in his later works "When Young" and "American Lover". Wes Anderson was successful in a broad sense before Baumbach, and after a few mediocre works, Baumbach finally shot the critically acclaimed "Marriage Story" last year. The core of "Marriage Story" is still full of those elements that run through his career.
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