Wes Anderson is an acquired taste. There are some who find his sparse, witty tales of troubled families, strained relationships and magical realism far-fetched, who think his carefully constructed dialogue and shots are twee. And on the other hand, there are others who think his films albeit always running through the same themes are beautiful and poetic, that he is an artist who is trying to create the maximum impact with a minimal amount of material
I have to confess that I firmly belong in the second group. Since ‘Bottle Rocket’, I have been a great admirer of Mr. Anderson’s work (with the exception of ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ which for me is the weakest link in his oeuvre) and always look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.
And I can safely admit that my anticipation for ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ was high. The story was attractive, the usual cast of talented actors in place and knowing that the soundtrack used a lot of material from Merchant Ivory and Satyajit Ray films only added to the excitement. And I think it is safe to give the verdict at the beginning of the review: ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ is another wonderful success in Wes Anderson’s already sparkling career.
‘The Darjeeling Limited’ tells the story of three brothers: Francis, Peter and Jack who set off on a spiritual quest in India to discover themselves at the behest of their eldest Francis (played admirably by Owen Wilson). Prior to the beginning of the film Francis is involved in an almost fatal car-crash, after which the first thing he thought, he says, was of his brothers.
The middle brother Peter (Adrian Brody finally shedding his eternally-tortured look) has still not got over the death of their father and is a mild kleptomaniac whilst the youngest Jack (Jason Schwartzman in top form) is trying to get over his relationship with an ex-girlfriend whilst writing stories based on his own life and claiming they are fictional. Boarding The Darjeeling Limited they closely followed by Francis’s P.A. Brendan (Wallace Wolodarsky) who updates their itinerary and keeps check on their travel arrangements but will not be seen according to Francis.
Their journey veers completely off-course thanks to pepper sprays, prescription medicine and an Indian stewardess on board train named Rita (played admirably by Amara Khan in her first on-screen appearance).
The beauty of ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ lies in the way Wes Anderson constructs the film as if almost making a silent picture. The dialogue is as sparse as ever but the real information comes from words not being said, small actions, gestures and those long slow-mo shots which are composed almost as a painting by one of the Grand Masters. Take for example the opening chaos of Bill Murray character The Businessman being driven through the streets of Bombay at breakneck street. He arrives at the train station at the last minute , jumps every queue possible to be able to get on his train and as he starts running to catch the already-leaving train on the platform, Anderson slows the action right down a serene speed.
There’s something poetic about the whole thing and as Adrian Brody joins him and subsequently runs past him, the two men stare at each other, a strange connection established. The otherworldly feel of a lot the scenes stems from the fact that Anderson defines the character by their actions, by their appearances and by their mannerisms – the expositional dialogue is simply removed as unnecessary fat on a juicy piece of steak. In a way, the closes director that Wes Anderson reminds this reviewer of is ‘Buster Keaton’. The two seem to share the same love for the composed shot: both the build-up and the punch-line. It would not be too far fetched to imagine in ten year’s time Anderson’s films becoming almost completely silent. (Without spoiling it is also fair to say that the film also boasts perhaps the most effective employment of montage since ‘Donnie Darko’; a scene of such touching emotion that one becomes overwhelmed by the simplicity of it all.)
The India of ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ is a mixture of attraction, old-world mystery and a sense of isolation. The train itself is a thing of beauty: like the Orient Express after it has gone to seed, a thing of decaying beauty and crumbling grand façade – the gold colour scheme complimenting the bright sunshine outside in every shot. Then there’s the shots of the country itself: mysterious, welcoming, strange: Although far removed from the India of Merchant- Ivory with its’ more blunt appearance, Wes Anderson still displays wonder and love for his location. Each locale (a train station at a late night hour, a monastery on top of a mountain, a village in the middle of nowhere, various cities) is India and not at the same time: filtered through Wes Anderson’s lens they gain a different feel to the India we are used to seeing on screen.
The real meat of the story in ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ does not lie within the linear screenplay. Followed from beginning to the end, what we see is the same story Anderson has shot before – a journey of a troubled family. What makes the journey special are the characters and the actors that portray. In Francis, Peter and Jack; Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Schwartzman find places to hang their hats on – their chemistry working so well it is almost possible to imagine these three as being real brother. Anjelica Huston once again proves why she’s still worth her weight in gold as their mother (and adding another extremely fine cameo to her credit after her mysterious and wonderful turn in Seraphim Falls) and Waris Ahluwalia is the perfect picture of rage and jealousy seething under the surface of his work dedication. Amara Khan is seductive, beautiful and conveys the sense, the desperation and the yearning for something better in a beautiful way that words cannot explain or illustrate.
If there are any problems with the film, they stem from some of the points that are actually Wes Anderson’s strong points: his desire to create a shot, a composition can sometimes push him to manipulate a scene so clunkily that it fails to gel with the rest of the film. The short ‘Hotel Chevalier’ which acts as a prequel to ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ is its’ best example. Although clocking it at maybe just over ten minutes, ‘Hotel Chevalier’ remains unbearably tedious until its’ final quarter. Once we, as the audience, see the image that Wes Anderson has been dying to show us, it makes wonderful, it works. But the 7 minutes prior is, to it simply boring, with dialogue that does not feel natural at best and sound terrible at worst. One also wonders whether Anderson is ever going to leave his comfort zone and walk outside quirky families in dire straits scenario but this is something only time will allow us to tell.
And anyway these are very minor, very unimportant quibbles in a film which easily surpasses most of the other important film releases out there – ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ is a minor masterpiece of beauty, of charm and of emotion by a talented and maturing director. It is also the recommendation of this reviewer that you catch it whilst you still have a chance at the cinema and simply bask in the glory of the story projected on the screen.
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