Directed by: Wes Anderson
Starring: Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston
Rating: R

Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody in The Darjeeling Limited. (Courtesy photo)

Audiences seem to be sending a message to Hollywood right now: If you don’t offer us good popular entertainment, we will look elsewhere. Since the beginning of September, when kids go back to school and Hollywood generally puts out a weaker product, independent films have been thriving. It’s a very encouraging trend, one that will hopefully continue. One such film is The Darjeeling Limited. This minor film from director Wes Anderson proves, I think, how hungry audiences are for some substance in their movies. The Darjeeling Limited is kind of about the search for substance. Whether or not it supplies any is open to debate. Anderson and his collaborators clearly feel that the journey is the destination. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but the journey is certainly fun.

Three estranged brothers meet in India to embark on a spiritual journey. The oldest brother, Francis (Owen Wilson), has designed this trip. He is the alpha, the type who orders for everyone without thinking twice. Middle brother Peter (Adrian Brody) is the most introspective, and the one who still aches most at the loss of their father one year prior. Youngest Jack (Jason Schwartzman) is the romantic—though since this is a Wes Anderson film, it’s more accurate to say he is the most romantic of a romantic bunch. All three are carrying pain, and each approaches this journey with varying levels of trepidation. They spend most of their trip on the eponymous train, as much a wonder of color and design as a real passenger train. As the three men attempt awkward, shorthand stabs at trust and sharing, Peter and Jack learn that Francis is luring them to a meeting with their mysterious mother (Anjelica Huston). She went off on her own journeys through much of their lives, and is now living in a temple in Tibet. She is such a peripheral figure in the boys’ lives, they’re not even certain she will welcome them. On the way, the brothers make game efforts at illumination, while their feelings toward each other oscillate wildly.

Anderson co-wrote Darjeeling Limited with friends Roman Coppola (writer/director of CQ) and Jason Schwartzman (star of Rushmore). The two may have lent a slight variation to Anderson’s voice—the movie is more free-form in structure than Anderson’s previous films. But thanks mostly to Anderson’s nearly obsessive preciousness in his art direction, Darjeeling Limited feels almost as idiosyncratic as Anderson’s most recent film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. That film was the most (and only) poorly received film of Anderson’s career thus far, for just that reason. Anderson has not strayed far from the same subject matter—brothers (Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums) and father and sons (Rushmore, Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic). Darjeeling is obviously not a big sign of creative growth, but somehow it is very easy to forgive. Wes Anderson stuck in his box is still worth seeing, because his box will contain the most irresistible dioramas you’ve ever seen.

The cast doesn’t hurt, either. Owen Wilson is Anderson’s longtime friend and collaborator. He is very good but has to scramble to keep up with his onscreen brothers. Jason Schwartzman is a unique performer. I’m not even sure he’s a good actor, but he can clearly be utilized expertly, as Anderson has done in Rushmore and Darjeeling. Schwartzman has naturalness in appearance and delivery that makes him both likable and mildly insufferable at the same time. Adrian Brody (The Pianist, Hollywoodland) ramps down his usual intense work to play the quiet middle brother, but he nevertheless is the soul of the movie. Brody simply has more going on under the surface than most other actors. He is terrific here. The supporting cast is uniformly good too, especially Amara Karan as Rita, the beautiful, somewhat haunted, train stewardess. This actress has a bright future.

A short film called The Hotel Chevalier precedes the feature. It stars Schwartzman as brother Jack, being visited by ex-girlfriend Natalie Portman while trying to escape her in France. The film is little more than a scene, and it plays like an expertly produced college one-act. It’s really just a prologue to the real film, and an unnecessary one. But nothing about Darjeeling speaks of necessity. Clearly this was simply a wouldn’t-it-be-great kind of endeavor—three talented minds embarking on their own creative adventure and wanting to see it play out on film. Along the way, the movie bends and twists enough for us to lose our place, which is always fun when left in capable hands like Anderson’s. It also means that when the narrative comes back into focus, we can wonder whether or not something spiritual might have just transpired. It doesn’t matter, because Anderson, Coppola, and Schwartzman did not need for it to. Spiritual awakening is not an essential ingredient in the bonding of three brothers. If it happens, it’s merely a bonus.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.