The Darjeeling Limited

Wes Anderson’s fifth film (Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) is the tale of three brothers on an eccentric spiritual journey through India. Anderson’s themes of family relations and metaphysical uncertainty are revisited with characters familiarly estranged from one another. Owen Wilson plays the oldest of the brothers, Francis, who seeks to reconcile the familial and geographic distance between the rest of his family (played by Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Angelica Huston), all the while traveling via train through India. Aside from the usual themes, the film has all the usual trappings of Anderson’s oeuvre: exposed compartments, pet-like secondary characters, and a clever soundtrack. The result is something of a blend between the warmth of The Royal Tenenbaums and the road movie (sea movie?) of The Life Aquatic. The film’s sense of complexity is furthered by Anderson’s short, Hotel Chevalier starring Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, which can be downloaded via i-Tunes, except for the poor Anderson fans that live in Canada (like myself!) or any other country aside from the U.S. Definitely a must-see for fans of Anderson’s earlier works; however, don’t expect anything new (than again, maybe I’m missing something?!).