Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Darjeeling Limited

Three brothers (Owen Wilson, ), all reeling in their own way following the death of their father, meet in India and embark on an expansive journey by train, in an attempt to reconcile old wounds. With a surreptitious motive for the trip held by one of the brothers, the trio embark in misadventure after misadventure, each self-revealing and healing by turn. "The Darjeeling Limited" is a gorgeous location film that offers further evidence in the maturation process of Wes Anderson. Bringing his acutely delicate sensibilities to the project, Anderson tells an affecting story and features fines performances from Owen Wilson (who recreates his highly ordered character from "Bottle Rocket"), Jason Schwartzman (who cowrote the screenplay with his cousin Roman Coppola and Anderson) and Adrian Brody. The touching finale also conjures up memories of Powell and Pressburger's great "Black Narcissus."

The Criterion DVD features a simultaneously filmed short featuring Schwartzman and Natalie Portman entitled "Hotel Chevalier" which doesn't work by itself, but fits nicely within the context of the film, and probably should have been included as part of it.