The Darjeeling Limited Review

I’m a Wes Anderson fan. As I already mentioned, I wouldn’t be out seeing Wes Anderson movies if I didn’t think I would like them, so of course I loved The Darjeeling Limited.

Critics say he makes the same movie every time, but so what if he does? The one movie he makes is visually dynamic, has great music, deadpan humor, and gets better after multiple viewings. And there’s only five of them, so in the face of multiple action blockbusters, crappy teen comedies, and torture-porn horror movies among a billion different easily recognizable Hollywood tropes, five of them isn’t enough, if you ask me.

As to the specifics of this one: if you’ve seen any of the trailers or tv spots, then you know pretty much the entire plot: Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson play three brothers reconnecting on the titular train in India, a year after their father’s funeral. That’s pretty much it- the plot takes many different soap opera like reveals and twists, but the usual disaffection keeps the tone of the movie more dark comic than maudlin.

Schwartzman and Brody deliver similar brooding turns as men getting over a breakup and dealing with impending fatherhood, respectively. But Wilson is the best as the oldest brother, who deals with a motorcycle accident by taking fastidious control of their trip, with a laminated itinerary and asking for control over their personal decisions.

The near-OCD of Wilson’s character is an obvious surrogate for Anderson’s detail-oriented, precise directorial style: Wilson even holds onto his brother’s passports for safekeeping. In a telling scene near the film’s conclusion, he offers them back, but they smile and say it’s all right if he holds onto them- Anderson giving himself tacit approval.

And why not? The basics of the film are a little sparse and simple, but any lack of subtext is made up by the backdrop. Darjeeling is a wonderful land’s-eye view of India, better than a tour guide and full of tourists’ awed reverence. The high point of the film is an encounter with The Namesake’s Irfa Khann and the rest of a small village, which plays out for ten full minutes with no English dialogue, and no subtitles.

It would be fascinating enough on the travel channel. So while the film itself, at least after one viewing, is arguably Anderson’s least complex (there’s a lot of obvious metaphors, from the several pieces of the father’s luggage they carry around to Wilson’s character removing his wound dressings and saying “I guess I have a lot of healing left to do.”), the feel of the film is deep and meditative.

So definitely try to catch this one.

But if you didn’t like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, or The Life Aquatic, then I don’t know what to tell you.

When to See It: As Soon As Humanly Possible