I loved this movie! I finally saw it on Thursday. Going in, I was highly skeptical. I'm no Wes Anderson fanboy. His movies leave me either completely disappointed (Rushmore) or nonplussed (The Life Aquatic), or casually amused (Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums). None of them have changed my life or connected with me in some deep way. But in Darjeeling, Anderson seemed more restrained then usual.
Like the twisted ensemble in The Royal Tenenbaums, Darjeeling's three central protagonists harbor layers of deep resentment for one another buried under layers of personality quirks. Here, though, Anderson has a much smaller volume of characters in his stable, so he can focus more intensely on them. And it's a short movie, too (not counting Hotel Chevalier), which I always appreciate.
Also, I have a major case of travel envy right now. That may explain why I liked it so much.
2 comments:
as some reviewers have pointed out, this movie is less, um, colonialistic than some of his other films. Like, nonwhites get to speak.
visually, I liked the crazy dual praying mantis physiques of the Indian porter dude and Adrian Brody. Plus Adrian Brody's fine self was in his underwear a lot. I liked that, too.
Was that Indian porter the same guy who played the Sikh bank teller in Inside Man?
*checks IMDB*
Why yes it was. He's the go-to guy for Sikh roles in Hollywood, it seems.
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