Wes Anderson is an always interesting filmmaker. I get irritated with his melancolic rich kids, but there are gems in every movie he makes, and his design and color are superb. I'm especially fond of "Djarleeng Limited", with Adrian Brody, Jason Swartzman and Owen Wilson playing three brothers who are estranged and lost because of their father's death and mother's (Anjelica Huston) taking off for a nunnery on an Indian mountaintop. They take the train on a "spiritual journey" cooked up by Wilson, and have adventures and mishaps that somehow do bring them together, after fighting and squabbles. The color is gorgeous, since India was made for Anderson's palette, and one of India's greatest stars (Irrfan Khan) turns up as a father who experiences a tragedy.
Wilson is perfect as the anxiety ridden oldest brother who runs off at the mouth and wants to organize his brother's lives. Brody is a man about to become a father who jumps at the chance to run away from the responsibility. Swartzman is the baby brother who has a sometime girlfriend (Natalie Portman) who likes to be cruel and disappear. He's looking to be saved from her. Their grief at that father's death and the subsequent dread expectation that it's time for them to grow up is touching and hilarious. Huston is great as the mother who feels she's done all she can to save them and is now saving the world instead a la Mother Teresa. Her mannerisms remind us that her oldest son is struggling to be her, but can't quite get the hang of it.
My favorite subplot is when the three are off the train, walking along a river, and see three boys slip off a raft and go underwater. They each aim for one child, and two are saved, but Brody cannot save his child. He is devastated, and they go to the village with the child in his arms, and stay through the grieving and the funeral. The father, Khan, is the gentle compassionate father these boy-men need, and his kindness to them goes a long way to healing them. While in the village, Brody is given a baby boy to hold, and you can see he is now a man, accepting his own fatherhood and the deep grief and joy it will bring.
There are lots of great comic bits, and Anderson manages to give us a real feel for India and the crazy/wonderful world it embodies. These brothers learn to embrace life again, give it another try, because India is so teeming with life and color and feeling. Ironically, India does become the spiritual journey they are seeking, despite themselves. They let go and float in the river of India.
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