The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Artwork for Theatrical Release

Wes Anderson is as much a hard sell as Woody Allen or even Orson Welles to most people, and that's really a shame.  Wes Anderson's quirkiness could quite possibly rival anything Fox is dishing out with New Girl and the Mindy Project, but he does so while overloading the audience with a scintillating array of visual, aural, and oftentimes tactile essence, that the mainstream stumbles backwards away from the pure enjoyment of his films.

The Darjeeling Limited falls easily within the same vein, even if it has been forgotten mostly in the last five years.

This film is the perfect autumnal solstice film, and not just because the color palette snatches what one would expect in a 60 second psychedelic high-end apartment.  It is reflective, a bit depressive, while being at the same time gleeful, and hopeful.

Wes has a very specific style, very recognizable, sound design and all.  And they all function incredibly well together.  The dynamism of all the cinematic aspects functioning together in almost perfect, if not euphoric, synchronicity, is truly awe inspiring.

The script is brilliantly complex, even if missing a word or two while you savor the beauty of the previous deters from that.  Which fits the mood of the camerawork, editing, sound design and score all brilliantly cacophonous when needed and devoid of everything, all meticulously orchestrated by the Willie Wonka of cinephiles.

Perfectly, interestingly, awe-inspiringly organized mayhem.

Artwork for Criterion Release

What's most interesting and innovative about the film, is the use of the kinly relationship as a form for structuring the narrative.  This coupled with the dialectical symmetry and the way the cinematography supports and uppends both, is sheer  brilliance.

The slow motion shots in the funeral and the tracking shots of the eponymous train, including the final one, are utterly beautiful, stunningly breathtaking, and two weeks after the viewing are the most stunning fleeting memories of the film.

Very enjoyable, even if the narrative sometimes feel like it hasn't moved much, and here I think, might be the larger egress for the mainstream audience, but this should, in no way, prevent someone from enjoying this truly remarkable and beautifully eclectic film.

Buy this film on Blu-ray, Criterion and all.  The cinematography is worth the price tag alone.