NYFF, etc. The Darjeeling Limited.

"The Darjeeling Limited amounts finally to a high-end, high-toned tourist adventure," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "I don't mean this dismissively; it would be hypocritical of me to deny the delights of luxury travel to faraway lands. And [Wes] Anderson's eye for local color - the red-orange-yellow end of the spectrum in particular - is meticulous and admiring. But humanism lies either beyond his grasp or outside the range of his interests." Also, in an audio commentary, Anderson discusses the evolution of one scene.

"Darjeeling is no departure from Anderson's previous work. Instead, and better yet, it's a vast improvement," argues Michael Joshua Rowin at Reverse Shot. "[T]he film is the first sign of creative integrity from Anderson, America's most overpraised young auteur."

Updated through 10/4.

Michael Tully explains his "shock and awe about the movie's overall vibrancy and resonance, two things I was convinced Anderson had lost forever."

"The Life Aquatic (in which the question of whether Owen Wilson's character is Zissou Jr turns out to be a brilliant red herring) was Anderson's deeply poignant first attempt at growing up a bit, whereas Darjeeling, with its obsessive rituals and inherited mannerisms, represents a sad regression," writes Mike D'Angelo at Nerve.

"Anderson still primarily constructs a character by putting an actor in a costume, still illustrates a life by ticking off the decorative stuff in it," writes Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog. "It's this kind of style-as-substance that has earned Anderson a lot of flack over the years, but I've come to the point where I don't think it's necessarily fair to fault the guy for pursuing his balls-out personal vision."

"Each of Anderson's films has displayed progressively more distance, not merely between characters but also between the characters and the viewer, and therefore the melancholy emitting from Darjeeling is noticeably uneven," writes Jenny Jediny at Not Coming to a Theater Near You. "It's strange to feel like Margaret Mead, observing these characters through binoculars, especially when there are moments that feel as though they are asking for our empathy and an acknowledgement of the brothers' buried grief."

"[I]ts strong similarities to Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, which dealt so movingly with family bonds and fissures, suggest that Darjeeling may be doomed to wilt in its shadow," writes Scott Tobias at the AV Club.

"[T]he twee one's fifth film flashes edifying signs of a slow, stubborn evolution," writes Michelle Orange. "[T]he film's small moments of beauty and wist make it worthwhile." Also at the Reeler, Ben Gold talks with Anderson.

"For die-hard Wes Anderson fans, The Darjeeling Limited is the film you've been waiting for all year," writes Erik Davis at Cinematical. "Sadly, everyone else might want to get off at the first stop... although I strongly suggest staying on till the very end."

"Darjeeling has great moments for sure, but they works better as vignettes... You'll have favorite chapters on the eventual DVD," suggests Nathaniel R at Awards Daily.

Earlier: NYFF previews; and the first round of reviews from Venice.

Updates, 9/30: "At bottom, Darjeeling is about the world of rich white boys, a throwback to those 19th century aristos who owed themselves a trot around the globe," blogs Erica Abeel for Filmmaker.

"Anderson is too ironically deadpan to embrace any sudden transformations in his characters, so they don't seem remarkably changed by [an event by a river], which effectively reduces it to a plot point with an emotional patina, rendered impotent by a filmmaker who seems to think that he can compensate for the emptiness at his film's core just by pulling away from sentimentality," writes Robert Davis. "He's trying to fill one void with another."

Update, 10/1: "Is Wes Anderson's schtick getting tired, or am I simply getting tired of Wes Anderson's schtick?" wonders Matt Singer at IFC News.

Update, 10/2: Glenn Kenny takes issue with Jonah Weiner's Slate piece: "Weiner doesn't come out and call Anderson a racist, but the piece's rhetoric does play to the very special, considered self-righteousness of its ideal reader."

Update, 10/4: Gary Susman talks with Anderson for the Boston Phoenix.

Posted by dwhudson at September 29, 2007 11:18 AM