Darjeeling Limited (Anderson, 2008)

[X.]

Wes Andresen's new movie after the magnificent "The Life Aquatic" is a go. It's called "Darjeeling Limited" and will start Owen Wilson as one of three brothers travelling through India.

Anderson himself, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola will be scripting. That's right. Jason Schwartzman.

[animatedude]

hahaha it will be really cool to see how my indians friends will bash this when it comes out!

[fizz]

Bet it'll star this guy:

[animatedude]

is this guy the man from Keeping The Faith?

[fizz]

That guy is Kumar Pallana superstar and laugh provider of everything Wes Anderson has made thus far, except Life aquatic, where he compensated with a Sikh character.

[kaytee]

Fox joins Anderson on 'Darjeeling'

Fox Searchlight is getting into the Wes Anderson business. The Fox specialty division will be the home of the writer-director's latest project, "The Darjeeling Limited," which will star Anderson vets Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. Principal photography is set to begin at year's end in India.

The three will play brothers on a spiritual journey through India after the death of their father.
 
"Darjeeling" is based on a screenplay from Anderson, Schwartzman and Roman Coppola. Anderson and Coppola will serve as producers on the film.

Searchlight specializes in offbeat, quirky fare, which happens to be Anderson's trademark. Anderson's previous films, "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," were all made for Touchstone Pictures under the guidance of Nina Jacobson, former president of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group.

Scott Rudin is producing through his Scott Rudin Prods. shingle in addition to Lydia Pilcher and her Cine Mosaic label. Pilcher recently partnered with Searchlight on Mira Nair's "The Namesake," also an India-based production based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Wilson has appeared in all of Anderson's films, going back to his debut, "Bottle Rocket." He also co-wrote "Rocket," "Rushmore" and "Tenenbaums."

Schwartzman starred in "Rushmore." He will next be seen in Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette."

Brody, the newcomer to the Anderson fold, will next be seen in "Hollywoodland."

Anderson, Schwartzman and Wilson are repped by UTA and attorney Bob Wallerstein. Brody is repped by CAA.

[sandeep]

hahaha it will be really cool to see how my indians friends will bash this when it comes out!

Yes it sure will be interesting to see how its handled...

[kaytee]

First Look

[X.]

Ha ha, that just looks fucking hilarious!

[X.]

What a beautiful poster...quirky and beautiful. I wonder how the Hindus will react to the Temple setting (is it really a Temple?).

If you look closely at the credits, there's even a credit to the greatest Indian filmmaker that ever lived, Satyajit Ray: looks like Anderson is using music from his films, though not sure since the type is very small.

[kaytee]

Yup Satyajit Ray and Merchant Ivory have been credited. Looks like they went into the Mahalaxmi Temple in Udaipur and shot scenes there.

[kaytee]

This just jumped to the most anticipated movie of the year...

Trailer

[madali]

For the "most anticipated movie of the year", no one has done any followup!

[madali]

Darjeeling Limited (Anderson, 2008)
IMDB Link

“What’s wrong with you?”
“Let me think about that. I’ll tell you the next time I see you.”

If you are contemplating this movie, you have to ask yourself if you like director Wes Anderson’s works or not. It is simple as that. If you already dislike his work, find him too quirky, pretentious, or whatever, then “The Darjeeling Limited” will annoy you. There is nothing here to convert anyone.

But I liked “Bottle Rocket”, loved “Rushmore”, did not mind “The Royal Tenenbaums”, was interested with “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”, and now think “The Darjeeling Limited” is great, and his best work since “Rushmore”.

I was cynical when I got the synopsis of the movie. A movie about three white American brothers traveling to India to find spirituality and bond? Bah. Nothing annoys me more than fake, instant spirituality seekers of the west or the romanticism of eastern culture. Living in Dubai, I’ve met many Indians and like people were from anywhere else in the world, there is no secret they are hiding. Of home, they don’t talk politics, rising cost, and the party culture, depending on you talk to. None of them cares about some spiritual journey.

Well, I was glad to find out that Wes Anderson seems to know this. When they go to a temple, they put look up at the temple and smile in awe…but suddenly Francis (Owen Wilson) sees a peddler selling power adapters and goes to get himself one. Peter (Adrien Brody) goes to buy himself some shoes, and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) is buying some pepper spray. Next scene, Peter is buying some dangerous snake. And again, scene changes, all three are walking to the temple, with their purchases under their arms, and Francis looks at the temple, looks back, and says, “This is incredible.”

In another scene, the three brothers are walking, and some Indian children and men are at the room and laughing at them. Peter says, “These guys are laughing at us.” Francis answers, “I love it here. These people are beautiful.”

Wes Anderson does not pretend to show us real India, because India in this movie could have been any other “spiritual” country. It might as well have been Tibet or some Thailand village. The train they use is colorful, and the Indian train guy (whatever they are called) has a long beard with a turban, but speaks without a trace of Indian accent. Thankfully, we do not have any wise Indian man to teach them any life lessons. Any lessons they learn are from their own interactions.

The movie is funny throughout, and extremely touching and moving when it needs to be, and the ease in which it is able to do both must be due to the great acting abilities of the three brothers,  Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman.

You can easily find faults in a movie like this. The symbolisms sometimes are so obvious, it is almost laughable, and the usual Anderson movie flaws that people point out, the quirkiness, the fake dialogues, but hey, again, if you like Anderson already, you’ll dig it.

Bonus Review: Wes Anderson made a short movie called “Hotel Chevalier” which is an event that occurred before the events of the movie. It is only 13 minutes, and I saw it after I watched the movie itself, and I would advise you either ignore it or watch it after the movie. It does not add much to the movie, and it is better watching the movie knowing as little as possible.

4/5

[madali]

Man, the first post by AK was made in 2006. Where the fuck is time going?