The Darjeeling Limited

Directed Wes Anderson. Written by Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. Starring Owen Wilson (Francis), Adrien Brody (Peter), Jason Schwartzman (Jack).

Bottom line: The Darjeeling Limited looks at Anderson's usual themes of abandonment, family and death from a darker, grittier tone but not at the expense of humor and style so I would recommend this as a weekend rental.
3.5/4

If you happened to read my review of Serpico, you will know that I am a fan of movies that prompt introspection. The Darjeeling Limited is one such movie. I am not making a claim about what The Darjeeling Limited is saying but suggesting that movies can provide one with a different perspective on life. Now, this is a Wes Anderson movie so you can expect the usual Anderson themes: abandonment, breakdown of the family, loss. I don't relate to these. I grew up with a mom, dad, a wonderful older sister and two little white dogs in a little white house on a small street in suburbia. Yet, this movie struck a chord me. It entered my life at a rather tumultuous time and somehow stuck with me. So this post is not so much a review but, rather, a discussion about how a movie can hold a place one's heart (specifically this movie and with my heart).

Let us begin with the opening sequence of The Darjeeling Limited. A crane shot zooms in on a taxi zipping through busy Indian streets. Fast-paced sitar plays as a bewildered Bill Murray hangs on in the back seat. They eventually come to an abrupt halt in front of a train station. Murray bails out without paying the fare. He cuts the long ticket line and tells the employee that the departing train is his. Cut to the departing train, The Darjeeling Limited. Murray holds his two suitcases as he yells 'Wait!' fruitlessly at the departing train. He and the train are moving at the same pace. Suddenly, Adrian Brody appears beside Murray running for the same train. In slow motion, as The Kinks' This Time Tomorrow begins playing, the two exchange glances. Cut to a long shot of Brody pulling ahead and jumping on the train. He lifts his sunglasses, smirks and watches Murray slow down to a dejected trot. He puts his sunglasses back on and enters the train.

Let me now explain my world when I first saw this movie. I was graduating from school with a major I wasn't too keen on and I had just started a new consulting job. I was lonely and working in the middle of nowhere with no direction and worse, because of corporate bureaucracy, I wasn't actually doing anything. I felt like Bill Murray. I felt as if my train was departing and I was missing it even, even worse, I could almost see it leaving. Much like Murray, I was running towards the train at the same pace as it was departing. Up until recently, I listened to This Time Tomorrow with sad ears because I linked it to this scene. Unlike Adrian Brody, I didn't see myself as going on a journey. I was stagnant.

Shortly after watching The Darjeeling Limited, I began this blog. About a year has passed since that point. Last night, I re-watched The Darjeeling Limited to realize how much I have changed and how much my relationship with the movie has changed. Instead of seeing myself as Bill Murray, I now saw myself as Adrian Brody. I finally felt like I was moving. I didn't miss my train. The similarity does end there. Let me explain a little more of the story.

Francis (Wilson), Peter (Brody) and Jack (Schwartzman) are brothers. A year previous to the start of the movie, the three met to attend their father's funeral. Their meeting was a traumatic experience such that the brothers have not been in much contact since. Francis hatched a plan for the brothers to meet and bond through a spiritual journey. Francis is suicidal, Jack is in an abusive relationship and Peter goes on the trip out of fear of parenthood without telling his very pregnant wife. As Brody boards the train, he is using his dead father's luggage and wearing his dead father's prescription sunglasses that give him terrible migraines. I am not saying that just because I am on the train, the story ends; this is very much the beginning.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I am not making any claims about the meaning of The Darjeeling Limited. Specifically, I wanted to point out how a movie viewing experience can change over time. Between the first and latest viewing of this movie, I felt that the character to which I could relate allegorically or symbolically shifted. My feeling of stagnation gave way to a sense of direction. Granted, I don't think I am moving very fast but at least I am ready to move. Moreover, I wonder if anyone ever feels like he or she is moving fast enough.

So what is my point? Consider how you watch a movie. I beseech you not to watch it absentmindedly because it is 'purely for entertainment'. I don't think movies are for ‘transporting us to another world’ because that implies too much of a difference between this world and the movie world. At the same time, I also don't mean that you should try to figure out what the movie is trying to say. Instead, the next time you watch a movie, think about the way it makes you feel and why. That is, you can use the movie as a metaphorical point of discussion in your own life. Take the movie with a grain of salt, of course. For example, if you somehow are pumped up while watching Birth of a Nation, don’t forget that it was about the birth of the KKK.

You might ask, independently, how is The Darjeeling Limited? Although I liked it a lot, I am not going to say it is the perfect movie. I suppose it largely comes down to whether or not you like Wes Anderson. I do, even though it seems like his movies are usually the same. With respect to his other movies, I would put this in the top three. I like Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums a little more. Whenever you have the British or Americans in India, my imperialistic senses start tingling. Lines like, "these people are so beautiful" just have to be problematic on some level. That all said, I'd recommend this for a weekend rental if you are game for a Wes Anderson flick.