Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Arts & Society

Media Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures The brothers are portrayed by actors Jason Schwartzman (left), Owen Wilson (center) and Adrien Brody, the latter a newcomer to writer/director Wes Anderson's films.

For someone unfamiliar with Wes Anderson's previous works, the plot of,"The Darjeeling Limited"s could be as difficult to decipher as how to actually pronounce "Darjeeling." Conversely, for Wes Anderson followers this film contains off beat nuances and humor so dry that it leaves the audience laughing and coughing simultaneously.

"The Darjeeling Limited" follows three brothers in their quest to be spiritually revived, while reestablishing "being brothers again," a component of their relationship that had become estranged since the death of their father. What is meant to be a very structured trip through India, complete with a vigorous itinerary and a personal secretary, is quickly debunked as the characters struggle to cope with their own idiosyncrasies. The brothers seem internally bound only by their unhealthy attachment to the memory of their dead father (and his luggage), which plays a crucial role in the three's inability to reconnect. Their seemingly superficial physical interactions involving smoking, over-the-counter drugs, mutual distrust, and poor life choices are what make the characters enamoring and ludicrously funny. After a series of mishaps upon the Darjeeling Limited, (the name of the train they ride through India), the brothers are thrown from the train and experience what they had been looking for in some of India's most remote locations.

The search however is not linear, and the storyline does not placate the audience like they are children. A defining moment where everything begins to "click" does not exist. Instead Anderson, through a variety of cinematic techniques and cryptic yet witty banter, allows the viewer to come to his own conclusions. A hallmark of Anderson is his ability to shoot a movie with such methodically deliberate intent. Half sentences and obscure references only work when integrated with the ways in which he frames each scene. Vibrant colors and the gritty emotions that "Darjeeling Limited" unleashes on the screen through a barrage of stark images leave you wondering why this movie is marketed as a comedy in the first place.

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