Venice. The Darjeeling Limited.

"Just as the train traveling through India resembles Steve Zissou's submarine, the story [of Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited] has changed by only a very few iota: it's still about a family trying to get back together, an absent father, a mother that needs to be found, etc," writes Emmanuel Burdeau in Cahiers du cinéma's Venice diary.

"The same style takes the road, a mixture of chic and cheap; little pictures, rich colors swept through in lateral panoramic shots, wry humor given by actors with faces that look like sad dogs, in this case Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody. The three of them remind us of a first edition of an old comic strip, just found, in mint condition, its ink still damp. Or even better, a Technicolor cartoon whose film adaptation might slow the motion down and add weight to the sentiment. There is a palpable melancholy in this film, and if we marvel at it, it is only with indifference."

Updated through 9/6.

"We all miss having him here very much right now," Anderson, who has worked with Wilson on several films, told a news conference following a press screening of the movie," reports Mike Collett-White for Reuters. "'Obviously he's been through quite a lot this week, but I can tell you that's he doing very well and making us laugh, and when he's ready he's going to speak for himself much better than any of us could.'"

"[S]ad as the news is about Wilson's medical condition, what registers most strongly in Darjeeling is his sweet deadpan charm," writes Time's Richard Corliss. "What's amusing about all his bandages, which make his head as turbaned as that of the Sikh fellow who runs the train the brothers are on, is now how he wears them but how he ignores them; it's as if Francis is having a bad hair day everyone notices but him. Speaking in an intense whisper, Wilson unleashes all kinds of crackpot or domineering suggestions that somehow make momentary sense. He's what actors have to be: salesmen of dreams, carriers of seductive toxins. Wilson always makes the improbable plausible. But I fear Darjeeling, which opens the New York Film Festival Sept 28 and will play in major cities shortly thereafter, is beyond even Wilson's powers of persuasion."

Update: "India's vibrant landscapes and varied modes of travel, in particular the confined space of the locomotive, prove extremely congenial to Anderson's brand of visual humor and widescreen setups," writes Alissa Simon for Variety. "Framing, choreography and physical comedy reference classic train flicks ranging from Twentieth Century and A Night at the Opera to A Hard Day's Night.... Here, as in his two prior outings, Anderson's arch, highly artificial style gets in the way of character and emotional development, rendering pic piquant rather than profound."

Updates, 9/4: "Wes Anderson treads water, or maybe lime tea, with The Darjeeling Limited," writes Lee Marshall in Screen Daily. "This tale of three brothers who meet up on an Indian train to bond and find themselves has a kooky, laid back charm and is full of Anderson's trademark themes and surreal eye candy, but ultimately, for all its offbeat wit and road-to-enlightenment send-ups, it feels a little thin - more poppadum (albeit a fresh and spicy one) than chapati."

"The whimsical and insightful charm that Wes Anderson and his filmmaking pals have displayed in such films as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums curdles ruinously in the Indian sun that shines so brightly in their smug and self-satisfied new film "The Darjeeling Limited," writes Ray Bennett in the Hollywood Reporter. "The pretensions surrounding this production begin with a 13-minute short film titled Hotel Chavalier that was screened ahead of the main feature at the Venice International Film Festival. It will be shown at other festivals and on the Internet, and be included on the eventual DVD, but it will not play in theaters when the picture is released."

A "tad insubstantial," finds Mark Salisbury, writing at In the Company of Glenn, "And yet, it reveals Anderson's increasingly accomplished technique as well as his love for Satyajit Ray."

Update, 9/5: "[I]ts charm trumps its shortcomings," writes the Telegraph's David Gritten. "It's a set-up that invites unease. After all, these three youngish Americans, self-obsessed, neurotic and rich (money is never an issue with Anderson's characters) are in a poor foreign country they might easily deride or patronise. Yet there' s a genuinely sweet-natured feel to The Darjeeling Limited that makes this screwed-up trio engaging rather than irritating."

Update, 9/6: "If you want more of Anderson's particular brand of sad comedy then this is exactly that: more of the same, some Indian spice notwithstanding," writes Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net.

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Covering the coverage: Venice 07. Index.

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Posted by dwhudson at September 3, 2007 6:35 AM