Three brothers catch the train together, but nearly miss out on their self discovery (The Darjeeling Limited (DVD))

Member Name: mickeyhunt

Product:	The Darjeeling Limited (DVD)
Date:	02/09/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very quirky and often very funny film

Disadvantages: Will not be to everyone's taste, This is not for fans of Wedding Crashers and American Pie

I just watched this film yesterday. This is one crazy film. It was described on Sky as a drama, although I did laugh an awful lot, so it must be a comedy.

It stars Owen Wilson, Adiren Brody and Jason Shwartzman as 3 brothers who take a make or break trip of discovery through India and end up stranded in the desert. Intrestingly they all had very large noses so although they are all quite different it was more easy to belive they were brothers. It starts off normally enough with a small cameo from Bill Murray as he runs to catch the train and misses it. You don't see him again till the end, so it is a very small cameo. Natalie Portman also has a cameo, which I must have blinked and missed. The film then starts to go a bit zany from this point onwards. All three brothers seem to be addicted to one form of drugs - precription pills, indian cough syrup and some calming drops, which they immediatley swap round and all take each others as well as their own. At the start of the journey they all seem to be angry with each other and have not spoken for a year. The theme for the first part of the film is their fighting each other particularly the two younger brothes resentment of controlling brother Francis(Owen Wilson), I assumed he was the eldest. He has tried to arrange a series of spriritual adventures along the way which all end up in mayhem. He loses his shoe and Peter aquires a leathal pet snake, which eventually leads to their eviction from the train. At this point the journey does change and they seem to find the spirituality that Francis craves and it does start to bring them together.

My husband found this film a little too crazy and lost interest, but I kept with it and found it to be quite charming and entertaining. I think it would benefit from a second viewing so will try to watch it again over the next week or two.

I have not seen any of the previous Wes Anderson films, but based on this I will now give them a try. It did not come across as an over egged Hollywood type film, but had an edgier feel to it. It really did feel like a genuine road trip and the moments of comedy were naturally done (not the normal obvious slapstick of Hollywood movies). It is a tale of forgiveness and rediscovery of self and family. The rivalry of the 3 brothers was convincing and rang home ( I have a brother and a sister and we are all in our 40s, but can still have stupid arguments and get huffy with each other.). The theme of funerals runs through this film and I think that this is trying to tell you that life really is too short for all the crap that can happen in famillies. I am not at all sure what the point of Bill Murrys cameo was about, unless it was to highlight the point of missing out, as he seemed to keep missing his train.

I think this film is worth watching and the performances of the lead actors are very good. It is quirky and may not appeal to all, but should be watched with an open mind and enjoyed for the journey that the brothers go on.

Summary: Three brothers take a road trip of self discovery and redemption and find their family ties again.