Just out this week on DVD is Wes Anderson’s newest film ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ and I eagerly purchased it. I had recently watched ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ so I had high hopes for this Anderson creation. To say I was very pleased with the movie would be an overstatement, but I did enjoy it.
The movie follows the story of three brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrian Brody), and Jack Whitman (Jason Schwartzman) as they attempt to embark on a spiritual quest to deal with the death of their father and the deterioration of their family. Well, Francis wants to kind of go on a spiritual quest and the others just go with him more or less and buy snakes and medication.
The film has plenty of those Wes Anderson moments we have come to love. Beautiful panning shots, each frame filled with so much stimulus, not too much that it is annoying, but enough to keep you interested, and off kilter dialog such as, “he shaves his head, but he doesn’t have to because he can’t grow hair. Don’t mention it,” in the midst of a serious discussion about a disease.
The movie also has an optional short before the actual movie starts, but it can either be watched or skipped and nothing will be lost from the overall experience. Well almost nothing. You won’t get to see a bruised Natalie Portman. Which I don’t think is a great selling point for the short.
Overall I would say that, though I rank this below ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ and ‘Rushmore’ (two movies that interchange being my favorite Anderson film depending on which I have seen last), I recommend watching it. Is it worth the purchase? Like I said, I bought it, but I also bought MC Hammer pants at one point in my life, so my shopping track record is in question. If you are a Wes A. fan, sure, toss him the money, it’s a good watch.
-Brandin