- This movie is Wes Anderson’s weakest movie (although I concede I haven’t seen Bottle Rocket, but I hear it’s Super Awesome™), by far, but I think Anderson is like Scorsese in that even his worst offerings are still better than 90% of films out there. Which is fun, given that Scorsese dubbed Anderson “The Next Scorsese”.
- Anderson has abandoned Futura as his preferred typeface; I can’t help but think that his sense of humour decided to tag along to wherever Futura is vacationing. Yes, everything is wrapped up in his typographic choices. Maybe he needs to start writing with Owen Wilson again.
- I was reading trivia on Superbad and Seth Rogen apparently said how when they were looking for someone to play Evan, what they were essentially looking to do was cast a new best friend because that’s what they do: they cast people who work with them as a little BFF unit. The same is true (or seems to be true) of Anderson’s movies and I think that Adrien Brody fit right in with Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. He’s a lot more tragic than Anderson’s typical characters a) because he has the Adrien Brody Eyes of Extreme Sorrow™ and b) his character is completely depressing without having had any former greatness in his wake that he could at least milk for some semblance of happiness.
- There was a Hotel Chevalier commercial of sorts that played prior to the movie, telling you to go watch it online. I can’t decide if Hotel Chevalier would have been better to see before or after The Darjeeling Limited (I saw it before). Jason Schwartzman’s character is the same in both films, with his storyline from Hotel Chevalier eventually showing up as a short story he’s written in The Darjeeling Limited; he reads aloud from the story, and the lines are a carbon copy of the dialogue from Hotel Chevalier, since the short story is clearly based on real life.
- I don’t normally notice product placement in movies because I’ve become incredibly immune to it, but I found it incredibly jarring and ridiculously obnoxious whenever Jack would whip out his iPod and speakers. I don’t know if this is part of an agreement Anderson worked out with Apple to get Hotel Chevalier released as a free download on iTunes or what, but I really disliked it. Characters in Anderson films do not, as a rule, listen to iPods: these are people who are reliant on vinyl, people for whom the scratches and skips on a genius little pop LP mimic their own decline … and iPods just don’t cut it.
- Awesome soundtrack as always, although I think this one feels less integrated into the film the way his other soundtracks have. I think I read somewhere that Anderson often writes scenes specifically with certain songs for the soundtrack in mind and this one didn’t feel as planned as, say, The Royal Tenenbaums.
- Loved the luggage, so hideous yet so awesome. The whole time I kept thinking it looked like something Louis Vuitton would design and then lo and behold the credits role and guess who designed the luggage? Yeppers.
- I really appreciate Anderson’s ridiculously tight colour palettes, especially in this one. India serves him well visually.
- I thought some of the symbolism, especially right at the end when they dropped all their luggage while running for the train, was a little hokey.
- The guy who played Brendan’s last name is Wolodarsky! (i.e. “Wolodarsky was a high school substitute teacher… don’t you get it? We’re a pack of strays!”)
- Angelica Huston looks fierce with short hair. I love her.
- Speaking of Angelica Huston: what’s the deal with Anderson and the mother figures in his films?
- I love Anderson’s other movies because they’re these little dioramas of the inane. I think this one was a bit of a let down because it was missing that sensibility. I think part of this has to do with the lack of narration: there’s a real charm that comes with Alec Baldwin’s quiet scene setting in Royal Tenenbaums or Bill Murray’s dry docudrama voice in Life Aquatic that’s noticeably lacking here.
The Darjeeling Limited
Stylistically awesome with a passable plot.
IMDB Plot Synopsis Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be.