‘Darjeeling Limited’ on track

Movie Review

By Eryk Salvaggio

Posted on Oct. 29, 2007, at 12:00 a.m.

From the beginning, Wes Anderson’s newest film, “The Darjeeling Limited,” satisfies the desires of his fanatics: The Kinks are on the soundtrack, people walk around in slow motion a great deal, and the whimsy of the visual world reflects the absurdity of his characters despite taking them seriously enough that their epiphanies are powerful enough to be shared.

In “The Darjeeling Limited,” we are told the story of three wealthy brothers united by the grizzly death of their father, who use the event as a catalyst for a spiritual journey through India. Anderson quickly plays up the navel-gazing spiritual tourism stereotypes of the spiritual road movie before adjusting us to a realistic struggles of the brothers, back stories kept vague enough to give them each an “everyman” quality.

The three Whitman brothers form the engine of the film, which takes place primarily on the train for which the film is named. India and the train are perfect settings for Anderson’s strengths: every shot is both beautiful and absurd, and comedy fuses with tragedy on a regular basis. Those who are as enamored with Anderson’s visual style, with his children’s-book color schemes and stunningly detailed shots, will find this film to be the richest and most stunning in his collection.

“The Darjeeling Limited” – his fifth feature film – gives Anderson’s work a wide enough scope that we can evaluate his favorite themes. Similar to the work of JD Salinger, Anderson has made a habit of embodying his characters with a degree of wealth that allows them a certain degree of comfort for their eccentricities. Particularly Salingerian is the struggle for meaning which is out of reach of his heroes as a result of their insulated, wealthy lives. These are all Siddhartha stories of people leaving the comfort of the castle to confront the tragedies they’ve been protected from.

This is where the attraction of many of Anderson’s films lies: the romantic notion that tragedy can move one from self-absorption to introspection. In “Rushmore,” the protagonists have all experienced the death of a loved one. In “The Royal Tannenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” Anderson kills or nearly kills Owen Wilson’s character, a tactic repeated here and notable for Wilson’s real-life suicide attempt shortly after the film.

The struggle to find meaning here comes from casting off their wealth and their literal baggage. Anderson stresses the value of the brother’s relationships, though the women are noticeably weak or absent – a criticism that could be made of many of Anderson’s films.

Anderson’s strength as a director is his ability to balance the melancholy with the whimsical without being too overbearing. “The Darjeeling Limited” executes on this tension beautifully. On just one viewing, “The Darjeeling Limited” comes off as an almost flawless movie, with many of its apparent weaknesses compensated for by its ending. If you’ve managed to read this much of this review, you’re probably the kind of person who should see this film.

Grade: A

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.