Wes Anderson is a director who makes fanatics, not fans. Fanatics are precarious; each well-received film increases the potential backlash should the next one fail to exceed such standards. For the same reason, one cannot view a Wes Anderson film as an isolated work of art. Rather, it is in conversation with everything he has previously made.
With all of these factors bearing down, I carefully claim that The Darjeeling Limited is a successful Wes Anderson film. His past movies became increasingly complex as his fan base and production budget grew: from the single protagonist of Rushmore to the interwoven ensemble cast in The Royal Tenenbaums and, most recently, the huge undertaking of The Life Aquatic. This last film, at the same time a single character study and a large ensemble cast, marked the first time the director seemed to fit too much into a single film. The film lost direction and drive, and the editing and flow of the sequences suffered.
The Darjeeling Limited puts Wes Anderson back on track after The Life Aquatic. He keeps it simple; the focus stays tight on the complex relationship between three brothers (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody) on a crudely devised “spiritual journey” through India after the death of their father. And, as always, Anderson’s protagonists are naturally unsuited for adulthood. Co-written with independent film peers Schwartzman and Roman Coppola, the script exemplifies Anderson’s ability to craft and balance a range of characters and events while maintaining a grounded central position.
The brothers’ saga is entertaining and emotional, never slipping into a monotonous cycle of selfishness and backstabbing. Despite all the deception and quarreling, they constantly defer to each other, moving through the film as a unified whole. Most importantly, they remain entirely likable, flaws and all. This and other characterizations echo the spiritual qualities of the plot and setting, always seen through the Westernized pseudo-ignorance of these upper-class siblings.
This is only half the story, however. As in any Wes Anderson movie, the narrative itself is partially replaced by a meticulously crafted fictional world. The endless details that Anderson has written into his characters and plots are manifested in the film’s art direction, camerawork and music. The style drives Anderson’s films almost as much as the story.
The charming, nuanced world of The Darjeeling Limited is no exception. As far as cinematography goes, this probably affords Anderson the most range of any film yet, thanks to the beauty of the location and the signature style of his longtime cinematographer Robert Yeoman. As with Tenenbaums, the team carefully innovates while staying within the boundaries of the style they have established.
It seems as though Wes Anderson will never disappoint visually; rather, the difficulty lies in maintaining the same engaging storylines of his earlier scripts. In this regard, The Darjeeling Limited reflects the lessons that Anderson has learned from the unsuccessful Life Aquatic. He may not have long before he treads on worn territory, but it’s hard to care when it’s so much fun.
