Review: Director’s style shines in atypical ‘Darjeeling’

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman

Rated: R

Many artists find a theme that obsesses them, and they spend a lifetime exploring it and trying to perfect their statement.

Filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen have recognizable themes in every film they made.

The latest in the idiosyncratic line of writer/directors is Wes Anderson. He’s made five brilliant movies – “Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” and now “The Darjeeling Limited.”

There’s also a short film he wrote and directed, “The Hotel Chevalier,” that serves as a prelude – or companion piece, it’s hard to tell ¬– to “Darjeeling.” Early in the release of the feature, the short was merely mentioned in press releases and only available for viewing online. Recently, Twentieth Century Fox, the distributor, has added “The Hotel Chevalier” to the beginning of the main event. It’s just one more notch in the curious belt of Anderson. One wonders why the short wasn’t just re-edited into the beginning of “Darjeeling,” but to know Anderson’s work involves ceasing to wonder. Just go with it.

Anderson has always collaborated with his actors. “Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore” and “Tenenbaums” were co-written with Owen Wilson. For “Darjeeling,” Anderson took on Jason Schwartzman – who starred in “Rushmore” as well as the new film – as co-writer.

There’s a symbiosis that is apparent between the director and his actors, which is probably why Bill Murray, who starred in “Life Aquatic,” was willing to do a very brief cameo in “Darjeeling,” and Anjelica Huston, who starred in “Tenenbaums,” plays a small but important role here as well.

Darjeeling’s dysfunctions

Trying to explain the plot of “The Darjeeling Limited” would be an exercise in futility. It’s best described as a dysfunctional (an Anderson mainstay) “road picture.”

Three brothers, Francis (Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Schwarztman) have come back together after Francis has had a brush with death. Wilson plays Francis with head bandages throughout the entire film.

It’s readily apparent that Francis is an anal-retentive control freak and is taking charge of everything relating to the “vacation.” He keeps his brothers’ passports, has his assistant print itineraries and even orders from every menu for his siblings.

Francis has decided the brothers need to rediscover each other, and his idea of doing so is taking a train ride (on the title locomotive) across India to visit their mother (Huston), who is the “mother superior” in an Indian orphanage/convent. Mom was unable to attend the funeral of her husband, the boys’ father, and Francis thinks they all need to get together and heal.

Besides Francis’ evident problems (the “accident” maybe wasn’t an accident), Peter is about to divorce his wife who is seven-and-a-half months pregnant, and Jack is in a meltdown after breaking up with his lover. (This backstory is set up in “The Hotel Chevalier.”)

Most of the “action” in the film is merely interaction between the siblings, but there is a chapter wherein the brothers try to save three Indian kids on a raft. One of the kids doesn’t make it, and at the child’s funeral, the film flashes back to what happened at the brothers’ recent patriarchal wake.

Lost baggage

The most telling scene for me – and I really don ‘t think I’m reading too much into it – is the final one where the brothers are seen running to catch the train. The film opened with a similar scene, but in this finale, shot in exquisite slow motion by cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman, the brothers drop all the luggage they had been carrying throughout the film in a subtle running gag.

It seems obvious in this last scene they are losing more than just the physical baggage they had been carrying the entire time.

“Darjeeling” is not typical Hollywood fare, and while I loved it (as much as I have enjoyed all of Anderson’s films), it’s a hard movie to defend to people who say, “I didn’t get it. What the heck was it really about?”

If you’ve lived a storybook “normal” life, you’ll probably never understand. On the other hand, most of us have a few (or more than a few) holiday dinners/family reunions/weddings/funerals that still inform our emotions and shape our personalities. With those memories at hand, it’s obvious what these characters are going through.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.