Now, each generation of movie geeks has its own hero director. In the sixties, cinephiles idolized Alfred Hitchcock. In the seventies, they deified Stanley Kubrick (don't remember how N. last pronounced his name, but it was funny). In the eighties, they revered Steven Spielberg. The nineties and noughties were James Cameron's terrain. (Sorry, Michael Mann and David Fincher.)
Even though I find myself hooked to the work of Darren Aronovsky, the Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino; I'm actually most attracted to Wes Anderson's stylish tableaux vivants: 'The Royal Tenenbaums', 'The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou', 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' and aforementioned 'The Darjeeling Limited'. In my opinion each of these are works of art.
Not only are these films rich in story (the scenarios often revolving around fraught family relations); they are also beautifully made with the utmost attention to detail (I bought the dvd's so that I could press 'pause' from time to time, to admire the images, as each frame could be a painting in itself) and the actors who play in them seem to be born for their roles.
'The Darjeeling Limited' is another one of those vintage 'Wes Andersons'. It's about three brothers (played by Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody) who, after their father's death, go on a spiritual journey through India.
Most of the 'action' (might be an ill-chosen term as 'The Darjeeling Limited' tells a very quaint, still story) takes place on a train which is called The Darjeeling Limited and carries them through the vast Indian outback; sometimes halting for a visit to a temple or stopping altogether because it got lost.
Trains getting lost and not being to locate themselves might sound insane in the real world, but in Wes Anderson's universe it's actually quite normal.
The same goes for the characters: at first, they seem normal people, but the more Anderson peels back the layers (and there are many), you see that they are indeed a bit loony. The insanity generally stems from top-loaded family issues - divorces and the resulting fear of being left behind or being afraid to commit to others, difficult brother-sister relationships and so on.
(Come to think of it; I'd say my family could provide Anderson with some great fodder for a new film. My aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and even grandparents each have their own character, with the necessary electricity - and sometimes nuclear meltdowns - as a result. Let's just say our family gatherings are never boring. My uncle Bart, who's a writer and whose stories remind me of Andersons work in all of its aesthetic and detail, even used the matter as inspiration for a book - and a good one at that.)
The great thing about the quaint little Wes Anderson stories, with its colorful characters alternately hating, loving, fighting and caressing each other, is that they sometimes sidestep into crazy sequences, either in strong dialogue (like when Gene Hackman picked a fight with Danny Glover in 'The Royal Tenenbaums', saying: 'You heard me Coltrane. You wanna talk some jive?') or rumble-tumble action (cars crashing into houses, people getting stabbed in cold blood, islands being violently invaded). Those sequences breathe some air into the emotion-laden movies.
(I'm just rambling on about Wes Andersons style while I should actually be talking about 'The Darjeeling Limited'. Scuzzi.)
The things that make 'The Darjeeling Limited' another 'Wes Anderson' to remember are the images, which were shot on a moving train (very difficult to do as there's practically no place to work), the acting (both Wilson and Brody deliver highflying turns, and I loved the Bill Murray cameo as well) and the story (which revolves around the fact that you may not have been able to choose your family, but they're nonetheless the most important people in your life).
"I love you all, but right now I'm gonna mase you!", Schwartzmans character yells at one point in the movie, before spraying mase into his fighting brothers's eyes, and I think that line says it all: 'The Darjeeling Limited' tackles subjects which normally make you teary-eyed, but the director never lets the movie slip into ill-advised melodrama by providing the necessary humor and action.
What can I say: It's a must-see.
BEFORE I HEAD OUT TO READ SOME MAGAZINES...
... I want you to take a look at the sidebar, where Annelie's and Bakerman's blogs have been removed (that's what you get when you don't actually post on your blog) and have been replaced with the websites of both Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone - the fourth and third best magazines in the world, respectively. They're worth a sneak peek.
POST SCRIPTUM
Tonight Hollywood pats itself on the back with the Screen Guild Awards, where actors 'honor their fellow actors'. Curious to see who wins out.
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