Though clearly he is not without influences and inspiration, Wes Anderson is perhaps the most astonishingly creative and original presence in American cinema today. This means that too often when any post-Rushmore Wes Anderson movie is released there is a massive divide between the opinions of critics. Many will praise him for his originality and attention to even the most mundane details, while other critics will piss and moan about the fact that his films are too quirky, and exist in a world all of their own making them unappealing to the mainstream. With Darjeeling Limited, the divide has closed a little bit for reasons that are easy to discover.
With this project, Anderson has taken the setting of the story out of his imaginary world (Which is always a fascinating one, anyway) and brought his characters into the real world (India). It’s really the first time Anderson truly explores and embraces an actual culture, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the one he picked is one of the most unique and grand ones in the world. In other words, India as the setting fits very well with Anderson’s distinctive approach to cinema.
The characters he created this time around, along with new collaborators Roman “I Am A” Coppola and Jason “I Am Cooler Than You” Schwartzman, are similar to what we may expect based on Anderson’s previous films: detached, depressed, obnoxious, pathetic, but often more real than we can often pinpoint upon first viewing. The relationship between the three brothers in the film is much like a train ride through India itself (Not that I’ve ever actually been on one), with peaks and valleys and sand and shit, plus curry. The emotions seem real and every action performed by the brothers, from throwing belts in to each other’s faces to numbing their ennui with prescription painkillers, is appropriate to the type of person they are.
While Darjeeling Limited may lack the imagination of Anderson’s previous efforts, it still very much an Anderson film and a progression into a more outward looking perspective on the world. While the world Anderson created in 4 other films may be missed, at least it an be known he can handle the real world with wit, class and way more creativity than most of his peers.
With this project, Anderson has taken the setting of the story out of his imaginary world (Which is always a fascinating one, anyway) and brought his characters into the real world (India). It’s really the first time Anderson truly explores and embraces an actual culture, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the one he picked is one of the most unique and grand ones in the world. In other words, India as the setting fits very well with Anderson’s distinctive approach to cinema.
The characters he created this time around, along with new collaborators Roman “I Am A” Coppola and Jason “I Am Cooler Than You” Schwartzman, are similar to what we may expect based on Anderson’s previous films: detached, depressed, obnoxious, pathetic, but often more real than we can often pinpoint upon first viewing. The relationship between the three brothers in the film is much like a train ride through India itself (Not that I’ve ever actually been on one), with peaks and valleys and sand and shit, plus curry. The emotions seem real and every action performed by the brothers, from throwing belts in to each other’s faces to numbing their ennui with prescription painkillers, is appropriate to the type of person they are.
While Darjeeling Limited may lack the imagination of Anderson’s previous efforts, it still very much an Anderson film and a progression into a more outward looking perspective on the world. While the world Anderson created in 4 other films may be missed, at least it an be known he can handle the real world with wit, class and way more creativity than most of his peers.
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