CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 09/28/07

Soul Train

By danny munso

Wes Anderson brought his two friends, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman, aboard The Darjeeling Limited, the story of three brothers on a spiritual trip in India, and came out with one of his strongest films, and certainly his most genuine.

The Darjeeling Limited

Wes Anderson (also directed) & Roman Coppola & Jason Schwartzman

After not speaking to one another in over a year, the Whitman brothers—Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman)—reunite aboard a train named The Darjeeling Limited for a spiritual journey through India, hoping to become close again. The last time they saw one another was at their father's funeral, which their mother, Patricia (Anjelica Huston), did not attend. Each of the brothers is having trouble dealing with the loss of both their parents, which is why Francis—who organized the trip—has a secret reason for being in India: to find their estranged mother and reconnect with her.

After a successful writing partnership with Owen Wilson for his first three films, Wes Anderson was forced to turn to other partners in crime due to Wilson's increasing demand as an actor. For 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, he teamed with Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale), and the difference was noticeable. Though that film bore many of the hallmarks of Anderson and Wilson's trio of masterpieces (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums), it was the first Anderson film not grounded in realism, which sometimes diluted its impact. For The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson phoned up pals Roman Coppola (CQ) and Jason Schwartzman to share writing duties. The result is a melding of past Anderson works, combining Aquatic's sometimes sensational storytelling with a heartfelt and genuine tale about family.

Unlike Tenenbaums, which featured a very real jealousy between brothers Chas and Richie, the Whitman clan have far less drama between them. Though they bicker and talk behind each other's backs—best seen in a Fellini-esque sequence where the trio rotate in and out of their compartment, with the other two brothers sniping about the absent one—they very much love one another. Their relationship is both striking and touching, and features some of Anderson's strongest writing. All three co-writers have close siblings, and those relationships were seemingly spilt into the screenplay, with a tremendously satisfying effect. You feel that the brothers' relationship is real, and it's that relationship that makes the rest of the film work.

A unique element of the screenplay is that, though the three men dominate the screen time, most of the conflict comes from unseen, outside sources. For Jack, it is his ex-girlfriend that he cannot seem to let go of, though he knows he should. For Peter, it's his situation at home with his pregnant wife that he seems unsure about. And for Francis, it's his desire to see his mother again, not to mention the tremendous physical pain he's in due to a recent accident. These conflicts are the most interesting parts of the Darjeeling script. It never gives too much away, and in some cases, not enough. Anderson is famous for having notebooks of back-story for his characters, but in this film, more than any other, there is a definite sense that this journey we are seeing on screen is only part of the brothers' grand story. Sometimes it can be frustrating never to receive the information behind a character's motivations, but for the most part, it injects the story with energy and sucks you into their world even more. There are aspects of the story that may stay with you for days as you ask yourself questions only the characters could answer, and I suspect that was Anderson's exact intention.

For all the film's excitement, there are a few too many of Anderson's now-trademark eccentricities that seem to clash with the setting. His films usually create a new landscape for the viewer, whether it's the skewed school in Rushmore or Zissou's ship in Aquatic. But, here, he's treading in India, a country whose customs and cultures are well documented. So, when a curve ball is thrown into the mix, such as the insertion of a bloodthirsty Bengal tiger, it not only clashes with the setting, but with the realism the script works so hard to establish.

Though it may not be Anderson's strongest work, it may be his most emotional. Combining that element with the unique idea of leaving the character's back-stories out makes The Darjeeling Limited one of the most original films of the year, even if it may not be in Anderson's top three.

The Darjeeling Limited
Fox Searchlight
Rated R; 91 min.

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Danny Munso graduated from film school in 2004 and can currently be found on his computer working on one of his many half-written screenplays. Or, more likely, he's on the Internet checking the scores of his beloved Bay Area sports teams.

The Darjeeling Limited courtesy Fox Searchlight

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