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Wes Anderson's latest film follows three brothers (Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman) as they go on a train trip through India in what one of them hopes will be a truly spiritual journey. The title of the movie refers to the train that they are on for most of the movie, a colorful way of transportation that caters mostly to tourists. All the same, these three brothers cannot help but really stick out from the rest of the passengers. This is the first time that these three have met in a year, and their relationships are strained to say the least. The last time that all three were together was at their father's funeral (Bill Murray does a mute cameo as the absent father), and things are not going well for any of them. Peter (Adrien Brody) is about to become a father and, quite clearly, he is incredibly scared about that. Jack (Jason Schwartzman) broke up with his girlfriend (seen in another brief cameo played by Natalie Portman), and he gets checking the messages on her voicemail which he has secretly hacked into. And then there is the organizer of the trip, Francis (Owen Wilson) who has survived an intentional motorcycle crash and spends the majority of the movie with his head wrapped in gauze and bandages. The movie has the setup of one of the "Vacation" movies; a family getting together for a cross country trip where everything goes wrong, yet it somehow ends peacefully. Of course, we know from the outset that things will go wrong as the brothers indulge themselves with Indian tranquilizers and cough syrup. They get suspicious of each other and are not even capable of keeping each other's secrets. Francis is so paranoid that the brothers are going to abandon him that he steals both of their passports to prevent their leaving the country. Eventually, past hurts come up and fights break out that cannot be stopped without a good dose of pepper spray. Suffice to say, things do not go as planned. But do they ever do on trips like these? Unlike the "Vacation" movies which deal most with slapstick humor and very broad characters, "The Darjeeling Limited" digs much deeper and finds the pain and pathos of what the characters are going through in their lives. The beauty of the majority of Wes Anderson's movies is that deal with painful family memories that would see unbearable if he could not find the humor in them. His movies are great examples of how comedy can mined out of sheer family dysfunction. Many will come out of this saying that Wes Anderson is basically repeating himself and dealing with the same themes that he has in his other movies. But in the end, it is a ridiculous criticism when you realize that most directors do just that throughout their career. Dare I say it; many filmmakers make the same film over and over again (not literally mind you) in order to perfect their work on the themes that intrigue them the most. "The Darjeeling Limited" does not quite reach the greatness of "Rushmore" or "The Royal Tenenbaums," but it is still very good and probably one of the more seemingly original movies you can ever hope to see this fall season. India itself is a big character in this piece, and it is filmed beautifully here by cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman. I have never been to India, so I can only imagine that it is this beautiful. It is a perfect location for these three brothers to attempt to clear their minds of their troubles. Original movies are hard to come by. "The Darjeeling Limited" may not be the most original movie ever made, but it is a hell of a lot more original than many of the movies you will see out in theaters today. Hopefully, we will see more movies like that in theaters this holiday season! email this review to a friend
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