Review: The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

[Jerry Saravia]

THE DARJEELING LIMITED (2007)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: Two stars

I don't know how this could happen but I suppose every director has
their bad days. It is a shame to report that "The Darjeeling Limited,"
though exquisitely made, is a mildly repetitious, uneven pseudo-
spiritual journey that never quite finds its footing. It is a major,
endless chore to sit through.

Three brothers, Francis, Jack, Peter (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman
and Adrien Brody), are traveling on the Darjeeling Limited, a train
headed to India. There, they hope to find spiritual enlightenment and
some peace of mind. Let's hope so since Francis had been in a bad
accident and is covered with bandages, and Peter has found out that
his wife is pregnant.

Things go awry from the start. No smoking is allowed on this train, so
they keep their windows open. Peter has the bright idea to buy a
deadly, poisonous snake and bring it on board the train, only to lose
the snake! Rita (Amara Karan), one of the stewardesses, has a brief
romp in the hay with Jack, who is going through a bad relationship of
his own. Most of the time, we hear them squabbling and bickering but
only in that Wes Anderson offbeat manner where every word is uttered
with a low-keyed whisper. It is a terrific technique and one of the
reasons why I enjoy Wes Anderson's films.

Unfortunately, when the three brothers arrive in India, the movie
sinks fast and becomes something of a bore. The Darjeeling Limited
footage is so funny and so deadpan that it feels like vintage
Anderson. But this trip to India involves a small tragedy and there is
a linkage to the funeral of the brothers' father that is awkward and
offputting. The brothers eventually meet their mother (Anjelica
Huston, always a delight to watch) but, by then, this movie becomes
soporific and monotonous. The brothers sit by the fire, do some
spiritual dancing for extremely long stretches of film time and
essentially bicker and argue, only the offbeat nature is suddenly
gone. There is nothing tangible to hang onto and the characters, who
were lively and animated at first, become insufferable and
unendurable. And director Anderson's constant whip-pans, Francis
endless questioning of why each of his brothers are using the phone,
the importance of an expensive belt that keeps switching from one set
of pants to the other and other ad infinitum gags almost made me gag
and give up on the movie.

I have loved all of Wes Anderson's films, and I felt the approach
between black comedy and tragedy was sublimely handled in "The Royal
Tenenbaums," his best film. "Darjeeling Limited" opts for something
similar in its structure but it fails to match the upbeat first half
of the movie. I suspect that Wes Anderson is tone deaf on this one.


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