The Darjeeling Limited review

The Darjeeling Limited is a charming picture that doesn’t stray too far from director Wes Anderson’s usual quirks, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Some people have given this film flack for being too similar in style and tone to some previous Anderson flicks like The Royal Tenenbaums (which I love). Throughout his career Anderson has created a visual world that is uniquely his own and I don’t think there is anything wrong with him wanting to play in his own sand box. To me The Darjeeling Limited is more of a spiritual sequel to those films rather than a rip-off of them. It is another look at a rich fractured family like the Tenenbaums as seen through a different filter.

This time the story focuses on three brothers, Francis (Wilson) Peter (Brody) and Jack (Schwartzman), who were brought together by Francis, presumably to find themselves by taking a spiritual journey across India on the titular train. They hadn’t seen each other since their father’s funeral and a later accident caused Francis to want them to be brothers again. This is of course what he tells them, but really it is a slight ruse to get his brothers to help him find their mother, who has exiled herself at a convent in India.

The brothers’ relationship is very interesting and complex. You can tell they all have fraternal affection towards each other but they constantly keep each other at arms length. They seem afraid to let each other in because their emotions might be betrayed like when their father died or when their mother disappeared, or even from other unspoken moments of emotional pain. This may all sound depressing but along with these heady ideas the movie is also quite funny. There are moments where the brothers’ infighting is genuinely hilarious and every moment involving the train’s conductor had me laughing out loud. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman have great chemistry as the brothers, and they add a believable humanity to the bizarre situations they find themselves in. Though the trip may not have been what they were led to believe they all seem to be in sync on Francis’ original mission statement. India seems to have a spiritual effect on them, even if they were initially distrusting and uninterested.

A special shout-out should go to Hotel Chevalier which is a short film that was made as a prequel of sorts to The Darjeeling Limited. It’s not required viewing to get the movie but there are definitely some scenes that gain a little more by watching it beforehand, plus it’s a cool little look into Francis’ backstory. You should be able to find that online or on whatever DVD you are watching.

The Short Version: It’s funny, dramatic, extremely quirky and it’s not for everybody. If you enjoyed some of Wes Anderson’s previous movies like The Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore, you should definitely check it out. If those movies make you want to gouge your eyes out with a rusty spoon, it’d be best if you stayed away from this one.

Enter the Bloggin'

I know what you are thinking. Not another freaking movie blog. I’m not a psychic (If that’s what you want, visit http://www.psychicblog.net/), I just know because I struggled with that same sentiment when I decided to write out my thoughts. How can something stand out when it’s based on an idea so unoriginal?

This struggle is not something unique to the world of weblogs. Hollywood struggles with this issue all the time, and recycling seems to have won out momentarily. In terms of box-office, originality has taken a back seat to profitability. Just this past weekend the new spoof movie “Meet the Spartans” (which should be renamed to “Meet the Pop-Junk Reference Shitfest”) collected over $18 million, beating out yet another Rambo sequel. To hammer in the point even further, this upcoming weekend “Meet the Spartans” will most likely lose the top spot to the horror remake “The Eye.” And its not just movies, either. Every form of entertainment media is littered with covers and rip-off artists, from music to tv to newspapers. You could spend years compiling a complete list. But I digress.

The point of the matter is that there are no new stories, and no new things to talk about. The last bastion of originality lies in execution. And just like some of our favorite movies, I may not say anything original but at least I’ll try to say it in the most interesting way possible.