The train gets lost in the Rajasthan desert. And after finally getting what they were looking for in India, why wouldn’t they keep on rolling and confront their mother? This crossroads finds Anderson maturing as a filmmaker just as as his characters discover what they’ve been searching for all along. The screenplay does have ambitions to say something about brotherhood and spirituality, but Anderson's sense of style is so strong that sincerity and emotion struggle to be heard. hile admiring the fluency and invention of Wes Anderson's work, I have never taken to the cultivated eccentricity and arbitrary conduct of the characters and families in such (to me) tiresome, whimsical films as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Though it never arrives at the desired destination, The Darjeeling Limited offers a rewarding journey -- but one that's hard to recommend without a few disclaimers. The brothers bicker, fight, reminisce, engage in recriminations, fall into old patterns of behaviour and gradually find a new kind of friendship as they make their comic, sentimental journey, and it all rings true. Most of the music comes from the soundtracks of Satyajit Ray and the Merchant-Ivory movies, and thanks to the work of production designer Mark Friedberg, cinematographer Robert Yeoman and costume designer Milena Canonero, the picture looks magnificent. Peter is a troubled married man, worrying about divorcing his pregnant wife. In some way, Jack embodies the criticism leveled toward Anderson; gliding through life in his perfect playhouses, skirting over reality all the while. They’re too busy looking at it to try to try and understand. Together, locked in slow motion, they once again transition to the world of the train, scored to yet another awesome Kinks song. You can’t shield anyone from it. During Francis’s travels, he slowly unravels until he’s down to just his mangled face. While many people make films like Anderson, Anderson makes films like no one else. Just pure disgust and fear. Double-whammy. Trapped, she gives in to talking “without words,” now having the film rely on all conversation purely through the expressions on the actors faces and the Rolling Stones playing over a moving montage. They treat the markets in India as if they were midwestern tourists in Times Square: they think they’re getting a real good idea of what New York is like when they’re just scratching the surface. He’s having a child to make up for the one he lost in his arms, the one he carried like a child to his village as his friend held his dead, outstretched hand. ( Log Out / Brody as Peter is in virtually every shot with his younger brother Jack and his older brother Francis (Owen Wilson), who has arranged and is paying for this lengthy train journey from Mumbai to the foothills of the Himalayas. It’s the kind of smoke-and-mirrors shenanigans held true by children and setting it against the background of an imagined India leaves the boys in a world of endless possibilities…if they’d open themselves up to go off the painstakingly timed journey. When they finally confront her, it comes in a wonderfully backhanded way. They make their way back onto another train and, as they prepare to mount this new one, finally shed their fathers baggage, a brilliant and obvious pun-tastic gag that is so obvious you almost don’t realize it has been rubbed in your face all movie long. Here they meet people in a way that differs radically from their pretentious hopes of achieving spiritual epiphanies and making mystical transactions with the land. With The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson answers the calls of his critics with what is easily his most deep, profound, and personal film yet. Peter mentions how he wants to inform his mother that she is an impending grandmother. It’s like he’s seen a ghost and it farted on him. (I saw one typing error where you wrote Jonathan Schwartzman by mistake rather than Jason,). In the same cycle, he will now take his father’s stead, another cog in a long line of fathers and sons, life and death. Of course, their mother (in a devastating turn from Anjelica Huston) is the key to understanding why the boys are who they are. Just as Jack puts away his fathers glasses in his pocket never to don them again after the young boys funeral, you must face the brightness of each day with all it’s colors, and with clear focus. The blade rips through the skin and blood fills the sink to remind you of how high the stakes are, regardless of how many Sharpie-dotted mice run about this fictional house in this fictional New York. But somewhere along the line, this depth got taken as some sort of gag, his ironic twist on real-life emotions and situations. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. [Full review in Spanish]. Personally that scene is my fave and Adrien Brody’s performance is amazing here :), Great analysis! There's a beautiful tracking shot in which, in the collective minds of the three brothers, the camera passes from compartment to compartment in the train, visiting people and incidents from their past, including Natalie Portman from Hotel Chevalier, Bill Murray from the film's opening and the tiger that stalks the village near their mother's monastery. ( Log Out / Well, there aren't any, really. At least they aren’t conscious of it. Spot on. The next day, we notice how little has changed for the Whitman family. Along the way, goofy situations occur, and their upper class American sensibilities and stunted growth get the boys into great comedic set-ups in this faraway land. And in the most American way possible, they’re under the misguided idea that simply being in a spiritual land and going to a few spiritual places will beget a spiritual journey. Ever. Peter even goes so far and boast to his brothers that their father said he was the favorite, a boisterous, line-crossing bit of out and out hurtful lying that attacks exactly where he wants it to. Do we forget about the pathos in The Royal Tenenbaums when Chaz says to his father, “it’s been a rough year, dad” or the supremely odd and somehow touching “Goodbye, Cody” Steve Zissou gives to his barely-rented three legged dog after he’s inadvertently returned to his sea pirate owners? Francis mentions how they were trying to go on a spiritual journey but it didn’t really work out, completely not understanding the magnitude of what just happened in his, and their, lives. While he tries to mine deep into his characters, their insecurities, their hidden feelings, it’s unfortunately covered up by his intricate, off-beat style. That juxtaposition is what makes the suicide scene in The Royal Tenenbaums so strategically powerful. By having a child, and in turn by becoming a father, he’s opening up his child to the same kind of hurt he now feels if he dies unexpectedly. The itinerary (brought to you–lamenated–by Francis’ Alopecia-plagued assistant Brendan) tries to hit all the spiritual-hot spots while keeping an air of “unpredictability” by never having the guys meet Brendan. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! (Besides the fact that it’s the first film they ever saw of his and have since gotten tired of his style; they now hearken back to “The Good Ol’ Flick” they enjoyed in times of yore.)
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