Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The Darjeeling Limited
Starring: Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Adrien Brody
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, and Jason Schwartzman
3.5 Out of 5

Wes Anderson has returned with a new ensemble member (Adrien Brody), a new mode of transportation (a train), a new location (India) but the same trademark style is still in tact. But is that a good thing? It can be taken two ways. The informed viewers will know what is coming: his trademark lost-in-the-past color scheme and set design, a lot of extended, adeptly manipulated takes, and an anxious energy with a group of dreary-eyed characters that have minimal bits of irrational exuberance, almost always involving a Wilson brother.

The Darjeeling Limited is the name of a cabin train traveling through India where three estranged brothers meet for the first time since their father’s funeral. Francis (Owen Wilson) has invited Jack (Schwartzman) and Peter (Brody) on a spiritual journey to try and reunite them with a meticulously laminated itinerary card. The film follows them on this road to reconciliation that occurs in this far off nation.

Wes Anderson is apart of a dying breed. He is a vanity project for producers like the alter career of Robert Altman. His $20 million dollar films don’t make money yet they seem to do well enough to break even. Still, he has no problem getting his films made in a world were budgets are either $200 million or $10 million. Yet Anderson seems to be too comfortable. The budget seems to be just enough to justify all his fancifulness and a collection of jokes that probably only make his inner circle chuckle.

The film meanders quite a bit and at points seems to be even bored with itself. The trip is awkward early on as the brothers reacquaint themselves with a deep sense of distrust. Francis, a successful businessman, has had a serious life threatening experience that has left most of his skull bloodied and wrapped with all sorts of wraps and bandages. Jack (Schwartzman) is a middling writer on the rebound from the end of a relationship. Peter, the lone married Whitman brother, is on the precipice of having his first child and continued to carry around with him a multitude of mementos that belonged to his father.

So why continue seeing his films? There are a few good reasons. The films have great cast that usually deliver excellent performances. Brody is a welcomed addition to the somber faces and has an understated performance the evens out the overt quirkiness of Schwartzman. Wilson plays his usual subdues character but he is more vulnerable than ever with many of his demons on nervous display.

The visual style, even though expected, is still always interesting and stunning. Darjeeling does have a little more exploration of exterior landscapes. Anderson even adds in a few zooms that are never done in his works that give the film a bit of the tweak.

Yet, my favorite reason is the music. Anderson seems to mine the perfect late 60s-early 70s track that perfectly resonates, creating at least 2-3 perfect scenes in each film. Rushmore has Creation’s “Making Time.” Royal Tenenbaum’s had Anderson’s most poignant scene with Luke Wilson’s suicide attempt set to Elliott Smith’s “Needle in the Hay. Life Aquatic featured a lot of Bowie including “Life on Mars.” In Darjeeling, Anderson is on a Kinks binge, as the Schwartzman character totes around an old Ipod docked in a speaker system playing some amazing tracks such as “This Time Tomorrow” and Strangers. There is a beautiful montage featuring the Rolling Stones “Playing With Fire” that pans across the exterior view from window to window of the cabins of the train.

Andersons’ visuals appear to be like a perfectly crafted dollhouse, especially in Tenenbaumsfor the artsy-type dropped in the middle of the film’s selected locale i.e. New York City in The Royal Tenenbaumsor India in Darjeeling. Life Aquatic had a truly elaborate location of the inside of a submarine but the film seemed convoluted with plots, subplots, characters, a matching wacky colored sweatsuits that seemed to have been stuffed into the film. All three brothers in this movie travel with divvied up pieces of their dead father’s uniquely patterned 10-piece monogrammed luggage. Anderson has a major preoccupation with monogramming and could single-handedly be keeping this industry alive.

But that punctiliously designed dollhouse is also a character at the heart of the movie, and always the character with the most continually emotive personality. The train is full of quirks that lend themselves to major plot points and dialogue in the story.

Yet Darjeeling offers a more focused exploration of character than he has been since Bottle Rocket but one of the Wes Anderson’s least entertaining films. The film only has three main characters that are fully fleshed in the film which is a plus, allowing for a more in depth character study. The film seems to have more heart to go with the visuals and the music. But still, the music and the look of the movie, the rest of the film dissipates quickly after you exit the theatre.

The film of course doesn’t have a real, finite ending but it does leads somewhere. It is like a road trip, you know where you are going to end up but the fun is on route. The script co-written by Anderson, Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola has some touching moments and excels about 30 minutes in as we have passed the character introduction and extrapolation. The brothers start to truly reveal themselves. The brothers start to run amok and cause some ruckus on the train.

Maybe Anderson’s problem was that he blew his wad on Rushmore, truly one of the most entertaining film’s in recent memory that set a precedent of his style and set expectations that he hasn’t really been able to stray from. Darjeeling is not Anderson at his best but he seems to be trying to explore just like his character and his observations are just as worthy as any other filmmaker out there and while you’re at it you get to hear some great music, see some excellent performances and enjoy some of the scenery and culture of India.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older