The Darjeeling Limited

Synopsis: Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India on a spiritual, slightly absurd, journey.

"Jack: Wouldn't it be great if we heard a train go by in the distance?

Peter: No.

Francis: It'd probably be annoying."

At the opening of the Moonlight Cinema season, Jason Schwartzman stepped onto the podium in the half-dusk of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens to introduce The Darjeeling Limited. Having never been to an open air cinema before, he took a photo of an appreciate audience to show his folks back home that this is how Australians go to the cinema. And thus are legends about far-off places born.

The Darjeeling Limited carries the three Whitman brothers (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Adrien Brody) across Rajasthan through deserts and past palaces. It's been a year since their father died, the first time they've come together since then and their mother (Anjelica Houston) awaits in a nunnery somewhere in India. Along the way they must brave the sardonic inspector, at least one will fall in love with the beautiful stewardess, confront a foreign culture and, even more foreign, death, save some children and search for friendship - not just as brothers but as people. Wes Anderson's latest film is a finely-paced, thoughtful comedy of family tensions that not even a linear train journey can keep from going off the rails.

For those (hopefully few!) who find Anderson's work a little contrived, this, one of his most accessible, emotionally engaging efforts, may melt resistance. While all his films share many similar visual devices, their tone has changed along with his co-writers.

Anderson's first three films were co-written with Owen Wilson. Bottle Rocket saw the three Wilson brothers in a story of wanna-be crooks, with at least one not quite all there. Then Rushmore college suffered young Jason Schwartzman ruling everything from the chess club to the lacrosse team while competing with Bill Murray for the love of a teacher. The diasporic Royal Tenenbaum family of early childhold prodigies was reunited by the apparent terminal illness of the beautifully eccentric Gene Hackman. These form a loose trilogy of family stories. Eccentricity reigns supreme, amidst swooping camera takes, a carefully chosen score, and different selections from Wes' favourite actors - Bill Murray, Schwartzman, the Wilson brothers and Anjelica Houston.

Different co-writers on his previous film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and this one have helped Anderson's range evolve and add a greater feeling for the quest, both literal and metaphorical, in the character's journey of self-discovery. It began with the grand and more absurd family drama of The Life Aquatic, with Bill Murray's Captain Zissou as a strange take on legendary underwater explorer, Jacques Cousteau. And now, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola have helped create a strange, slightly Hal Hartley-esque script, that captures a great sense of family, humanity, and a very unique take on a great train adventure in exotically colourful India. Highly recommended.

 

 

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