21: The Darjeeling Limited [2007]
Director Wes Anderson
Screenplay Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwarztman
Studio Fox Searchlight Pictures
Genre Comedy drama
Released 2007
Running Time 91 minutes
Starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman
Co-Starring Angelica Huston
Synopsis
Three brothers, Francis, Peter and Jack Whitman [Wilson, Brody and Schwartzman respectively] meet up for the first time in a year, since the death of their father. Brought together on a train through India, the titular Darjeeling Limited, with the aim of each escaping from their own lives and their own insecurities, they travel across the country on a tour planned by Francis; visiting shrines and holy places, they try to find spiritual redemption in each other.
Reaction
This is the first of Bill Murray’s five films with director Wes Anderson that I’ve covered this year – and there are many common factors in all his films, visually, narratively and thematically. Firstly, Anderson is a director who works with a stable of actors, re-casting a number of them in film after film; secondly, there is a distinctive style both to the composition and colour of his shots, as well as the choice of angles; third, the choice of music accompanying his films; and most importantly, the stories themselves carry similar underlying concepts. As there’s four more Murray-Anderson collaborations still to come in my year-long journey I’ll focus on just a few key areas each time, as there is so much in common amongst his films. This time: cast and story.
Wilson, Schwartzman, Huston and Murray – as well as a number of the supporting case – had all previously worked with Anderson, but this was his first collaboration with Adrien Brody; the two have since worked together on Fantastic Mr. Fox. Many directors have favoured actors who they work with many times in key roles,film after film [e.g. Martin Scorsese's many collaborations with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio], so this is not unusual. However, as Anderson’s films all share key character and story traits, this re-use of many actors in most of the major roles in film after film leads to diminishing returns on both the message of the story and the effectiveness of the actors portraying them.
Anderson’s films are all essentially about characters from dysfunctional families with troubled histories, coming to confront their own neuroses, failings and weakness, sometimes partially coming to terms with them,but never finding total solace or reconciliation with their family. The Darjeeling Limited sees the three brothers attempt to find spiritual reconciliation both with each other and with their own lives after the death of their father and a long-term estrangement from their mother [Huston]. All three share an inability to be honest with themselves or with each other; all three have their own personal issues to deal with, in addition to their shared grief – Francis’ suicide attempts, Peter’s difficulties in accepting his wife’s pregancy and Jack’s inability to get over a recent split with a girlfriend. Asa background to this, the train itself serves both as a facilitator for the progression of the story and also as a sledgehammer of a metaphor for them all trying to move on with their lives.
Darjeeling is not as funny or as engaging as, for example, The Royal Tenenbaums, which is one of Anderson’s more straightforward dry comedies - The Life Aquatic was a more notably poignant film than Tenenbaums, but Darjeeling is another step further. More emotional than funny, Darjeeling‘s strict adherence to the style and format of Anderson’s previous works means that, while just as visually interesting, it’s a much less meaningful experience.
Bill Murray appears as “The Businessman” in a cameo in the first scene of the movie – in back of a taxi, racing to the railway station to try to catch his train, this essentially serves as scene-setting for the film by showing thus hectic movement and colours of the Indian city streets. As he runs to try to catch the train, which is already pulling away from the platform, he’s joined by Adrian Brody; Brody makes the train, but Murray is left behind. He reappears very briefly later in the film, during a trademark Anderson panning shot of “connected rooms” finally on a train!
[Copyright 2007 Fox Searchlight Pictures]
Box Office
USA: $11,902,715
Worldwide: $35,078,918
138th-highest grossing film in the USA in 2007.
118th-highest grossing film worldwide in 2007.
Awards/Reviews
No awards/nominations
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% fresh [165 reviews]
Find Out More
Wikipedia
IMDb
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Official Site
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BBFC Classification: 15
Amazon UK – £4.43 [DVD]
hmv.com – £2.99 [DVD]
Play.com – £4.99 [DVD]
iTunes – Not available
NEXT UP: Mad Dog and Glory [1993]
