The Darjeeling Limited

Wes Anderson makes “quirky” movies. This can be cool, as long there’s some substance to go along with the self-aware suds. He certainly struck that balance with Rushmore, and he almost had me with The Royal Tenenbaums, but the grip started to slip with the over-long and largely inaccessible A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. So it was with some trepidation that I slipped the The Darjeeling Limited disk into my player.

Like the schedule at a train station, there are many choices on the DVD menu—the first decision one must make is whether to play the movie alone, as it did in its theatrical run, or you may begin with a 13-minute short film called Hotel Chevalier, which not only shows Natalie Portman buck naked in all her godessy glory, but does an excellent job in setting the tone for the character Jason Schwartzman plays.

Schwartzman is Jack, one of three American brothers who takes part in a journey (spiritual, existential and otherwise) on a train called the Darjeeling Limited through colorful and enchanting India. The brothers are on their way to confront their charismatic, reclusive mother to find out once and for all why she did not attend their father’s stateside funeral the year before. Storyteller Jack and his siblings—the controlling and yet totally out of control of his own life Francis (Owen Wilson) and the pragmatic, passive Peter (Adrien Brody)—do everything from fight, forgive, feign and flee throughout the course of this slowly meandering yet always absorbing arty comedy about the absurdity of real life. It’s a truly beautiful accomplishment and a rare breed amongst its ’07 peers.

Surprisingly, The Darjeeling Limited was not nominated for any Academy Awards. It’s small and quirky, but so was Juno. The screenplay and acting are standouts, as is the glorious, vast-yet-intimate, color-saturated cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman.

In short, The Darjeeling Limited is more sublime than sweet lime (you’ll get that once you’ve seen the movie!).

All aboard: The Darjeeling Limited is out on DVD tomorrow, February 26, 2008.