There are not many directors with the same cult following as Wes Anderson ("The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"), whose films tend to center around dysfunctional family matters but are ultimately appreciated for their subtle hilarity and unusual wit. Anderson’s newest venture, "The Darjeeling Limited," brings us more of Anderson’s genius writing and cinematography, but also raises the question of whether you can have too much of a good thing.
The film follows three brothers, played by Adrian Brody ("Hollywoodland"), Jason Schwartzman ("Marie Antoinette") and Owen Wilson ("Night at the Museum"), as they travel across India on a train bearing the film’s title. After the death of their father, they are on a self-identified "spiritual journey," attempting to connect with each other as well as with their mother, who has become a nun in the foothills of the Himalayas. Along the way, they get themselves into the sorts of debacles only Anderson could conjure, as well as several wry and laughable instigations amongst each other.
"The Darjeeling Limited" certainly highlights Anderson’s flair for these types of movies, but it also rehashes far too many of the same tricks that made his 2004 "The Life Aquatic" a great success. The copious use of blues and yellows, as well as a number of clever cinematographic tricks, might be typical of Anderson and especially of "The Life Aquatic," but "Darjeeling" also borrows many of the former film’s plot devices and thematic elements. Sometimes they are used to the extent that one cannot help but feel like "The Darjeeling Limited" is just "The Life Aquatic" all over again, but this time it’s set on a train instead of a submarine. In this way, it’s as if Anderson is paying homage to himself.
Yet Anderson seems aware of this, even humoring us with an introductory scene to Bill Murray ("Lost in Translation," star of "The Life Aquatic"), who is chasing the train at the beginning of the film but just barely misses it as Adrian Brody’s character jumps on instead. The mother of the three brothers turns out to be none other than Angelica Huston, also of "The Life Aquatic," who plays a remarkably similar role to the one she played in the 2004 film. Either these inclusions indicate that Anderson is completely aware of his creative niche in the film world or he has completely failed to expand his creative talents in the past three years.
Still, "The Darjeeling Limited" is not without its particular strengths. When trying to convey any sort of spiritual development — even if it is only skin deep — there could be no better place to set a film than India, a country that quickly becomes just another of Anderson’s eccentric and unpredictable characters, which is as much at fault for the shenanigans the three brothers find themselves in as the brothers’ own stupidity. Something about the characters’ dialogue and the overall writing of the story itself is always laughable, yet oftentimes it’s difficult to explain why the audience has just cracked up over something on-screen. Anderson has an unusual talent for exploiting every aspect of potential humor, particularly in the subtlest ways.
Anderson’s films are not without their faults, however. As enjoyable as much of his camerawork may be, Anderson also has a propensity to create painfully long scenes with unnecessarily slow shots overlaid by horribly mellow music that, after 90 minutes, starts sounding the same as every other song. His characters, too, often seen as multi-faceted with commendable character arcs, have a habit of getting stuck in their own identities, serving a repeated comical function at the expense of their believability. Though the screenplay of "The Darjeeling Limited" is particularly strong for modern Hollywood, it is a far cry from being as quotable as some of his other films, and it leaves something to be desired.
Wes Anderson will likely continue to impress his followers with more of these appreciable — if not old hat — tricks, but one can only hope that he continues to expand his talents to include more than just directionless families. We must also hope, however, that he does not stray from what he excels at, and hopefully Anderson will continually deliver his slightly ridiculous films to audiences with less than three years between each release.
3 1/2 stars out of 5
