À bord du Darjeeling Limited

The Darjeeling Limited is certainly a visually appealing movie. The rich colors of southeast Asia mesh wonderfully with Anderson's penchant for precise set-pieces, and it make the entire experience a pleasure to watch. 

As for the rest of the movie, you probably already know if you're into Wes Anderson's brand of story. The father issues, the esoteric musical choices, the slightly surreal quality of each character - it's all here. The three brothers are well-conceived, with personalities that directly influence the overall narrative and the resolution. I liked it. It's more of the same, but pleasant enough to make that seem like a minor issue.

Oh, and be sure to watch the Hotel Chevalier short before The Darjeeling Limited. It helps fill in the back-story for one of the brothers, and it's an interesting movie in it's own right.

I am a fan of Wes Anderson's movies. I liked all his previous offerings: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Rushmore, in particular, was superb. All had a similar structure: character-driven, rather than plot-driven, dramas with moments of offbeat comedy and quaint bitter-sweet pictures of everyday people and the ups and downs of their lives.

The Darjeeling Limited is no exception, in terms of structure, and for the first half of the movie promises to be at least as good as his best (i.e. Rushmore, for me). However, it loses direction, focus and momentum in the second half, to the point that I was eagerly waiting for it to end.

It could have been a lot better.

Wes Anderson's greatest strength as a filmmaker, in my opinion, is his ability to elevate something simple and basic into something majestic and extraordinary.

The Darjeeling Limited is a simple story about three brothers who go on an international trip to find peace in their minds and relationships; which we've already witnessed countless times before, but the way it has been told & presented to us is quite remarkable to say the least.

Mr Anderson has brought his oddities, his trademark quirkiness, and made his movie stand out from the crowd, making it distinctive. Furthermore, the three leads' electrifying chemistry makes it all the more lively and exciting.

This movie is absolutely hilarious if you enjoy dry, intellectual humor that sometimes takes a moment to sink in. The comedy is not upfront, but is often derived from the situations the characters find themselves in, or even the response of auxiliary characters to the main characters' actions (like all Wes Anderson movies). Also like all Wes Anderson movies the characters' words are blunt, but the overall meaning of the film is abstract with room for individual viewers to experience it as they will. If new to Wes Anderson films, I would recommend The Life Aquatic or Moonrise Kingdom to get acquainted with the style before The Darjeeling Limited. Points were only detracted here, in my opinion, for lack of development of certain scenes and an overall limited plot (albeit expanded by the ample opportunities for extrapolations on the part of the viewer). In short, I would highly recommend - especially for anyone who already knows they love Wes Anderson films.

This is a film occupied with moments. Wonderful moments. It is not so much concerned with mechanics of plot but for me, it never got dull. Wes Anderson has matured in subtle ways and this film is a well crafted blend of the personal and the pageantry - Powell and Pressburger and Cassavetes. "The Rules of the Game" and "Husbands." "The Last Detail" and "The River."

The "spiritual journey" is used as pretext. Some people really don't like this. There is so much humor in watching three brothers stoned on Indian pharmaceuticals, trying to pray and getting sidetracked by arguments over stolen belts and confided secrets. They are flawed. People are flawed. Audiences tend to like their characters so likable that they are bland stereotypes. People can be privileged and disaffected AND still be beautiful and intriguing.

In the end, this movie is a fun ride. A stroll through various imaginative carts, occupied by compartments of colorful characters and incidents. Wes is further interweaving his "dollhouse" aesthetic with the real world. He is not so hung up on inventing every little thing and I could tell he was finding faces and peripheral details just as they were, waiting for him in India.

Nine bucks well spent for me. This guy's taking chances - some don't work. He's trying to push the medium forward in terms of tone. Some parts of his movies are difficult. Some people will get left behind. But for me, someone whose watched his films grow in scope and daring, I think he's an American treasure who may never arrive at the perfect film, but he'll continue to integrate cinema's history in new and exciting ways.