15 - 91mins - Adventure/Comedy/Drama - 23rd November 2007
The Darjeeling Limited is about 3 brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) who have not seen each other since their father's funeral over a year ago. The death of their father has affected them all individually and along with other problems in their life has left them somewhat flawed and drugged up. Peter has girlfriend issues, Jack has father issues and Francis has family issues, he wants to be closer to his brothers and be a happy family and yet his demeanour drives them away.
The lack of seeing each other inspires Francis to bring them together so they can carry out a 'spiritual journey' across India on a train in order to rekindle their relationships with one another become closer and more brotherly. However this idea does not go completely to plan with much brotherly bickering and fighting, the involvement of some pepper spray and one of the brothers buying a highly poisonous snake which he then misplaces amongst some of the things to look forward to.
The brothers and their interactions and chemistry with each other is where this movie wins from my point of view. Despite showing hardly any emotion- they never seem sad or cry, rarely smile etc. they convey what they are feeling in different ways. Having only ever seen Wilson in the bumbling comic/romcom type role, I was impressed with him in this where he shows off his talents as the brother who needs to always be in control. Brody also impresses with Schwartzman, despite not quite being as good as the other brothers still performing admirably.
The shooting of some of the scenes in the train reminded me in principal of similar work in the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou whereby the camera moves alongside the train cutting between rooms as if the nearest wall to the camera did not exist (I've heard it called the dollhouse effect?). This similarity was explained when I discovered both movies were directed by the same man, Wes Anderson.
These types of shots could be achieved due to The Darjeeling Limited being filmed inside a moving train- Anderson rented a ten carriage train and locomotive engine, completely redecorated it and then ran it between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer on a live section of railway track. This unsurprisingly providing a great challenge for cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman as nothing could be fixed to the ceiling and filming equipment couldn't be more than a metre out of the windows. He does a fantastic job though which has to be highly commended.
This is not an 'in your face' comedy but is rather more sly, subtle and witty one which I preferred in this context. There are some great one liners that I particularly enjoyed. The characters make it what it is while dragging their emotional (and actual) baggage around with them for the whole of the movie. If you like Anderson's other movies then this will not disappoint either.
The lack of seeing each other inspires Francis to bring them together so they can carry out a 'spiritual journey' across India on a train in order to rekindle their relationships with one another become closer and more brotherly. However this idea does not go completely to plan with much brotherly bickering and fighting, the involvement of some pepper spray and one of the brothers buying a highly poisonous snake which he then misplaces amongst some of the things to look forward to.
The brothers and their interactions and chemistry with each other is where this movie wins from my point of view. Despite showing hardly any emotion- they never seem sad or cry, rarely smile etc. they convey what they are feeling in different ways. Having only ever seen Wilson in the bumbling comic/romcom type role, I was impressed with him in this where he shows off his talents as the brother who needs to always be in control. Brody also impresses with Schwartzman, despite not quite being as good as the other brothers still performing admirably.
The shooting of some of the scenes in the train reminded me in principal of similar work in the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou whereby the camera moves alongside the train cutting between rooms as if the nearest wall to the camera did not exist (I've heard it called the dollhouse effect?). This similarity was explained when I discovered both movies were directed by the same man, Wes Anderson.
These types of shots could be achieved due to The Darjeeling Limited being filmed inside a moving train- Anderson rented a ten carriage train and locomotive engine, completely redecorated it and then ran it between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer on a live section of railway track. This unsurprisingly providing a great challenge for cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman as nothing could be fixed to the ceiling and filming equipment couldn't be more than a metre out of the windows. He does a fantastic job though which has to be highly commended.
This is not an 'in your face' comedy but is rather more sly, subtle and witty one which I preferred in this context. There are some great one liners that I particularly enjoyed. The characters make it what it is while dragging their emotional (and actual) baggage around with them for the whole of the movie. If you like Anderson's other movies then this will not disappoint either.
Rating: B
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