The Darjeeling Limited

[MacGuffin]

"Does the pope jerk off?"

"I can shit in the woods but I can't jerk off."

Kudos to anyone who knows what that movie is from...Mac probably knows.

Godfather III?

[MacGuffin]

Wes Anderson's passage to India
Source: The Guardian

Wes Anderson - the director of Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Royal Tenenbaums - is to premiere his latest comedy, The Darjeeling Limited, at the Venice film festival. It will be accompanied by a 12-minute short called Hotel Chevalier, which acts as a prequel to the main feature.

Written by Anderson, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola, The Darjeeling Limited stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Schwartzman as three brothers who embark on a train journey across India in a spiritual quest after their father's death. The short is about one of the brothers and a relationship that goes awry.

As Anderson admits, "Every movie I make is about someone who can't fit in, can't make things work or is dealing with failure."

[Alexandro]

No way Jose. And I like Anderson's movies. The one I have slight problems with is Life Aquatic. Most filmmakers do the same film over and over, but the comparisons to Scorsese and Woody Allen don't hold up at the moment. They may have common themes among their output, but I don't think Woody Allen started to get this predictable by his fifth film.

In fact,  he has tried a lot of different things in his career, even if he never gets out of his intellectual new york old fashioned music vibe. His visual style has changed throughout all these years, as his approach to directing actors. Just compare something like Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex with Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives, Deconstructing Harry...really, the criticisms towards him can be easily rebooted, but not with Wes Anderson.

And of course, the Dalai Lama is NOT Henry Hill, I don't think I have to explain why Scorsese has been doing the same movie in radically different ways all his life. In fact, I wouldn't call him the new Scorsese now.

I understand Pete´s point about going your own way and being faithful to your vision. I admire Wes Andeson for that, and I admire a lot of other filmmakers for that. He may not be playing it safe with the studios and critics, but I think he could be playing it safe with himself a little bit. I don't wanna be too obnoxious on this, cause I think he's very talented and I do prefer his same old same old to most of what's out there, but to me his films have become increasingly stiff and therefore have had less emotional impact on me. I just don't get that emotional with The Life Aquatic because everyone looks so fucking afraid to move outside the carefully planned frame.

The Coppola bashing I don't get. She has certainly taken more risks with everyone, including herself, trough her first three films. In my view, each one better than the last one.

[Pozer]

weird shoes. dude must look horrible naked.

i may also have said this before, but it was obvious since the time Scorsese labelled him the next scorsese, there was a reason he did that. scorsese had been telling the same story in almost the same way his whole career until this millennium, with superficial exceptions like yeah the dalai lama is not the same as herny hill, but whatever. pta practically remade boogie nights with magnolia, you know? i can't even think of a good director who i WOULDN'T want to see remake his best films. except hitchcock, he needs to shut the hell up. fiiivve dollaauurs? gettouttaheerre,...//

hahaha!  right after i read the first line, i was gonna quote it saying 'drunk post?'  then the awesomeness of the rest of it followed.  im suprised you didnt write horny hill. 

[MacGuffin]

Behind The Scenes:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809823973/video/3715425/

[Reinhold]

weird shoes. dude must look horrible naked.

i may also have said this before, but it was obvious since the time Scorsese labelled him the next scorsese, there was a reason he did that. scorsese had been telling the same story in almost the same way his whole career until this millennium, with superficial exceptions like yeah the dalai lama is not the same as herny hill, but whatever. pta practically remade boogie nights with magnolia, you know? i can't even think of a good director who i WOULDN'T want to see remake his best films. except hitchcock, he needs to shut the hell up. fiiivve dollaauurs? gettouttaheerre,...//

i'll drink to that.

[Gold Trumpet]

Alright, it looks like I limited my criticism. Not only do I think Wes Anderson has stalled as far as ambition is concerned, but I also think his last two films have been degrades over Rushmore and Bottle Rocket.

I enjoyed both of those movies for their comic characterization and light heartedness. I liked the interplay between the characters. I didn't enjoy Royal Tennebaums or Life Aquatic because Wes Anderson allowed production effects to take over the story. During Rushmore, I thought it was clever to have the final stage production by Max Fischer be an over the top recreation of real life. The audience being shocked a nice play turned into a dramatic war story was funny.

Anderson took his success of that play with effects and recreation and made a story out of it with Royal Tennenbaums. The actors have as much realistic mobility as the play-actors on Max Fischer's stage. They are defined by costumes and make up and do well to simply stand and mouth their lines. They do not inhabit their characters but instead just model them. Like I said, the only actor who seemed to break out of the shell was Gene Hackman. Everyone else was a stiff. And considering The Royal Tennenbaums had the most dramatic moments of any Wes Anderson film, I was a little put off.

Life Aquatic wasn't as excruciating as Tennenbaums, but it still was more memorable for production effects. The hope with Darjeeling Limited is that it does at least get back to what made Rushmore good. I don't ask for genius from Anderson. A film about characters and with jokes that don't fall flat would be a start.

[pete]

He may not be playing it safe with the studios and critics, but I think he could be playing it safe with himself a little bit.

how can you even determine that?  it's one of those jabs that critics always make.  first of all, how does wes anderson's inner turmoil concern you, and who the fuck are you to speak for his personal creative journey.  secondly, this is exactly the thing I hate about "serious" film criticism, it stresses on these non-matters and keeps on trying to turn filmmaking into some type of hurdling event.  first by ascribing these non-existent records, and then shitting on the filmmakers when they don't break the records.  I can understand that from a consumer's perspective; as a consumer, you hope your loyalty to a brand pays off.  however, you cannot let your capitalist expectations taint your understanding of the creative process.  and you cannot turn your lack of understanding of the creative process into deceptive words where their only usefulness is in making some dude who can see through your bullshit feel better typing this last paragraph.  and all of this is especially ironic coming from the guys who use the same three or four sets of words to describe every single film on this board.

now I have to admit that I'm being presumptious when I'm addressing you primarily as someone who doesn't make films, not even bad ones.  maybe alexandro and gold trumpet the filmmakers make films that look nothing like their words.  and I certainly hope that's case.  but as far as my instincts can be trusted, I think you're being unfair to the players in a game you don't participate in by making up rules that only make sense to you.

as for the coppola bashing.  I take shots at her whenever I can.  she's a substance-free director, born of wealth, who loves to celebrate ignorance.  her gleefully privileged POV sickens me.  glamorous banality wrapped in sundance chic.  I know a lot of the filmmakers I love are fans of hers, but fuck them on that one.  Christopher Doyle is on my side (though he's tight with gus van sant and fuck that guy too).  she's sensitive towards the things and people that she cares about, unfortunately they are usually about rich people and their self-inflicted problems.  these problems can be fascinating too, if only has the capacity or the soulfulness to relate them to people whom aren't like (or maybe "whom aren't as good as") her.

[Gold Trumpet]

I'm not working on a need to prove you anything basis. Don't hang the "understanding the creative process" bullshit argument over me. It distorts the argument because no one here is guilt free in taking positions against filmmakers that places standards in what they expect them to achieve. Wes Anderson can make films about the same characters and be the best filmmaker out there if he just made them better. I gave reasons about why I didn't like his films. You bashed Sofia Coppola for a weird reason that can be neither argued or defended. That doesnt look good after your rant.

[Alexandro]

Pete, relax man. I'm not attacking you. I'm not even attacking Wes Anderson. I like his movies, I don't find them boring or anything. But I think he can do better than remaking The Royal Tenenbaums again, which is what may be the case.  I'm not gonna say what I already said. I don't think I'm being unfair. And I'm sorry but we're supposed to discuss films here and give opinions.

However, this has nothing to do with me or GT making better films than anyone. This has to do with Wes Anderson's movies. I'm sure he has all the best intentions. I don't think he sits down and thinks how he's gonna scam all of us again. I do think his last film, as much as I loved it when I first saw it, don't really hold up to me on repeated viewings. And that trailer makes it look as if this is more of the same. I'm not a critic, or a filmmaker, I am part of the audience and can certainly expect from a promising filmmaker to give me a film that I can watch again with no problems. Simple as that. Is not a non issue to me. And I didn't say I knew he was playing it safe on himself, I said I think he does, and I still thinks so. This is not some game I don't participate in. This is an art. If you're repetitive, it should work as well as the first time. It has nothing to do with capitalism fur sure.

By the way, your criticisms of Coppola are just the same every other critic out there uses to trash her.

[john]

 I don't think Hackman's performance was a revolt against Anderson's direction or style. If it's incongruous to the actions of everyone around him, I think it's inherent to the plot and can be attributed both to Anderson's direction and to Hackman's fine performance. Regardless of whether their personalities clashed on set, I think what was ultimately delivered was of Anderson's design. And, if that performance was memorable enough to give Hackman the credit for it, I don't think the film could be entirely described as "excruciating".

I don't think Anderson's playing it safe, either. In tone and in pacing, I think he experiments in every film. Though, I kind of covered that in my last post. To expound on the Life Aquatic, emotionally, is just that - an emotional argument. It made me laugh, and the sense of melancholy also stuck with me. How you reacted to the film, I can't argue with. It's an argument that is personal more than anything else. For me, production effects certainly weren't the first thing I think of when I remember the movie.

Though, I'm not against hearing opposing opinions on Anderson. He's one of the few filmmakers working today that I rarely hear someone take criticism too (not in the press, but rather in the groups of people I associate with.)

I get more enjoyment reading a dissenting opinion, so long as it's thought out* - than praise without merit.

I also think it's a little premature to say Anderson's ambition has stalled. The fact that he's still making films and that the one following Darjeeling is a stop-motion adaptation. Of course, I'm a sucker for the director's I like, and unless he makes American Pie 5, or starts directing CSI - his ambition is his and his alone, without me to question it.

So, yeah, I still agree with you, Pete.... save for the Coppola bit**. I wouldn't attack her films for making films about rich people with self-inflicted problems - to some extent Anderson does the same.... not to mention Whit Stillman, who in his limited career has told the same story, of the same affluent people, three times. Each to rewarding effect.***

*Unlike this one which is, really, just a slightly-drunk, late night ramble.
**And the Van Sant bit. I mean, goddamn, My Own Private Idaho... Drugstore Cowboy... these films don't do anything for you, man?
***Though, I do admit to not giving much of a shit about Last Days of Disco.

[martinthewarrior]

I think Tenenbaums is a masterpiece. I also agree that he'll make little funny movies like this for the bulk of his career. I'm ok with that. I'll watch them for the same reason I watch a Sturges flick. I love the humor and don't feel a great need to chart his artistic growth. I do think that there is some truth to the Woody Allen comparisons as well, in terms of the tone of each film being quite similar. 

I do think we need to see Darjeeling before we can hash this out effectively.

[Redlum]

The Darjeeling Limited will be the closing night Gala at the London Film Festival this year.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2260060.ece

[MacGuffin]

Exclusive Featurette: 'The Darjeeling Limited'
Source: MTV

We're anxiously looking forward to Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited," so we're quite thrilled to be teaming up with Fox Searchlight to roll out a series of exclusive behind-the-scenes featurettes from the film, which stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman as three brothers who travel to India. We're also psyched that Anderson himself wrote a description for us of the featurette, which follows below...

"We started our shoot in the middle of one of the busiest and least accessible (by anything other than bicycle or auto-rickshaw) parts of Jodphur. Luckily, our key grip Sanjay Sami introduced us to his "rickshaw dolly" which became our favorite piece of equipment."


http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/08/17/exclusive-featurette-the-darjeeling-limited/

[bonanzataz]

just realized now that from now on whenever i order darjeeling tea, the hipster dipshits that work at tealuxe are all gonna be, dude, did you see that movie? wes anderson rawks! it must be why you like that tea so much!



or not.