Susan Granger’s review of “The Darjeeling Limited” (Fox Searchlight)
The luggage! The luggage! It’s all about the baggage.
Wes Anderson (“Rushmore,” “Bottle Rocket,” “The Royal Tennenbaums”) once again delves into family dysfunction, as the three wealthy, but estranged, Whitman brothers – who haven’t seen each other in the year since their father’s funeral – journey through rural India by train with 11 – count ’em – stunning, custom-made, animal motif Louis Vuitton suitcases.
Except for a shared penchant for substance abuse, they couldn’t be more different. The eldest, Francis (Owen Wilson), his head in bandages as the result of a motorcycle accident, is the ‘organizer,’ distributing laminated cards delineating each day’s spiritual activities. “We’re here to find ourselves and bond with each other,” he decrees.
Middle sibling Peter (Adrien Brody) has a pregnant wife, while the youngest, Jack (Jason Schwartzman), is still so obsessed with his ‘ex’ that he eavesdrops on her answering machine. But that doesn’t stop him from having a liaison with their compliant compartment attendant (Amara Karan), infuriating the prim steward (Waris Ahluwalia).
When they finally track down their self-absorbed mother (Anjelica Huston) in an isolated Himalayan convent, she – gently but firmly – tells them to quit obsessing about the past. Forgiveness would mean traveling lighter, leaving a lot of emotional baggage behind.
Meticulously stylized and nimbly filmed on a retrofitted Indian train, it’s a spicy, lyrical cinematic feast, slyly written by Anderson, Schwartzman (Talia Shire’s son) and Roman Coppola (Francis’s son) – with a terrific score and cameos by Ifan Khan and Bill Murray.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Darjeeling Limited” is a poignant, peripatetic 8. Access the titular website for Anderson’s short, “Hotel Chevalier,” featuring Jason Schwartzman’s character having a rendezvous in Paris with his ‘ex’ (Natalie Portman), which will undoubtedly be part of the DVD.
