The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Movie Title: The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Actors: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Wes Anderson
Format: DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
Run Time: 91 minutes
Movie Description
Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman star as three brothers who have drifted apart over the years and try to re-forge their sibling bonds on a hilarious adventure across India. The Royal Tennenbaums meets Lost in Translation.
Family tension again provides dramatic comedy in Wes Anderson’s new film, The Darjeeling Limited, about three American brothers traveling by train to find their reclusive mother in rural India. Like Royal Tenenbaums, this film succeeds because of its smart, funny script in addition to the visual beauty of India and its luxurious locomotive transportation. In Darjeeling, the oldest brother, Francis (Owen Wilson), blackmails his two younger siblings, Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman), into traveling to a monastery where their mother, Patricia (Anjelica Huston), has been in hiding as a nun. Supposedly embarking on a spiritual quest, the three men reminisce about the recent death of their father, and the family’s irreconcilable problems previous to their reunification. Though they do find Patricia, Francis, Peter, and Jack grow immensely from another brush with death, this time an Indian boy they try to rescue, giving the film an added conceptual depth that Anderson’s previous films have been accused of lacking. Co-written by Roman Coppola (CQ), The Darjeeling Limited is a finely-tuned critique of American materialism, emotional vacuity, and our lack of spiritualism, presented in ironic twists and gorgeous cinematography and lighting recalling Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller. A lovely, poignant sequence occurs while the three brothers attend a traditional Indian funeral, and flash back to their father’s one year prior. Moreover, the film’s soundtrack culled from Satyajit Ray’s films and vintage Kinks gives the film a timeless feel, removing it from the predictable indie rock scoring of independent releases. By far Anderson’s best film thus far, The Darjeeling Limited offers a much-needed dose of cultural self-reflection, pillared against India’s ever-evolving yet ancient religious backbone. –Trinie Dalton
Movie Review
Wes Anderson is at his best when he explores a small group of people — sometimes family, sometimes not — and explores what makes them tick. And after the cluttered “The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou,” Anderson returns to those roots with “The Darjeeling Limited.” Technically it’s an Indian road trip movie, and it’s full of his quirky charm… but at heart it’s just about three unhapppy brothers with a lot of baggage. Both literally and psychologically.
The forlorn Peter (Adrien Brody) and his luggage barely make it to an Indian train in time to join his brothers, woman-chasing writer Jack (Jason Schwartzman) and bandaged control freak Francis (Owen Wilson). They haven’t spoken for a year, and now they’re planning to awkwardly bond as they travel to their estranged mother’s convent.
And the cinematic flavour of “Darjeeling Limited” is much the same as in “Royal Tenenbaums” — bittersweetly funny and arch, with a tinge of poetic melancholy underlying the plot. It would be an endearing movie in any setting, but somehow putting it in the mellow glow of India’s dusty roads, bright fields and cluttered shrines makes it even better. The bright, visual richness gives it a sense of whimsy.
For the record, Roman Coppola and Schwartzman helped Anderson out with the script, but there isn’t much change. As always, lots of wry, amusingly contemplative dialogue (”I wonder if the three of us would’ve been friends in real life. Not as brothers, but as people”), though there is some hilarious comedic scenes of sibling infighting. It even gets slapsticky.
And the three men playing Jack, Francis and Peter are nothing short of brilliant. Brody is vaguely lost and forlorn, while Schwartzman is a quirky rake who is still haunted by his last girlfriend (played by Natalie Portman in the short intro, “Hotel Chevalier”). But there’s something almost painfully wounded about Wilson’s reckless control freak, which has nothing to do with his bandages.
“The Darjeeling Limited” is a visually astounding, contemplative little comedy, all about three men who have to deal with the past before they can move on. Put it on the shelf next to “Royal Tenenbaums.”
Plot Outline
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other — to become brothers again like they used to be. Their “spiritual quest”, however, veers rapidly off-course (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray), and they eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert with eleven suitcases, a printer, and a laminating machine. At this moment, a new, unplanned journey suddenly begins.
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