THE DARJEELING LIMITED (Wes Anderson, 2007, USA) Three brothers set out on a spiritual journey to find their mother and rediscover their fraternal bonds. Alas, like all so-called spiritual journeys they only discover the vacuum of faith that can only lead to a literal dead-end. But Wes Anderson takes us beyond this point when the brothers, through a selfless act, make the emotional leap to maturity and once again become a family. This is a film about their self-discovery and not a reckoning with their mother: she isn’t prepared to make the transition and is still locked in her own desperate struggle for identity. The brothers begin the film argumentative and softly-rotten (kind of like a brown spot on a bad apple) and suffer the consequences of their egocentrism. More importantly, they turn out to be good people when they are not so wrapped up in themselves and this is the epiphany that is lacking in so many similar movies! Wes Anderson has finally made a great film: the cinematography and editing are superb and every single beat of dialogue is perfect. I think this movie proves he is a true auteur. (B-)
It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
THE DARJEELING LIMITED (Wes Anderson, 2007, USA) Three brothers set out on a spiritual journey to find their mother and rediscover their fraternal bonds. Alas, like all so-called spiritual journeys they only discover the vacuum of faith that can only lead to a literal dead-end. But Wes Anderson takes us beyond this point when the brothers, through a selfless act, make the emotional leap to maturity and once again become a family. This is a film about their self-discovery and not a reckoning with their mother: she isn’t prepared to make the transition and is still locked in her own desperate struggle for identity. The brothers begin the film argumentative and softly-rotten (kind of like a brown spot on a bad apple) and suffer the consequences of their egocentrism. More importantly, they turn out to be good people when they are not so wrapped up in themselves and this is the epiphany that is lacking in so many similar movies! Wes Anderson has finally made a great film: the cinematography and editing are superb and every single beat of dialogue is perfect. I think this movie proves he is a true auteur. (B-)
