Review of The Darjeeling Limited (2007) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

This movie is very similar to Wes' other movies, with the same sort of strangely polar mix of tragedy and comedy and the comedy coming from the mundane. Its true that you could easily wonder why you should feel sorry for this people, when it does appear that their not exactly short of money but there is something about them that does make you want to root for them and in some of the things that are said, you get an insight into their upbringing and the problems they've had. There is a fair amount of symbolism within this movie too, though it would probably spoil it if I were to go into too much detail or give an example, really. It can be pretty touching and the theme of redemption or wanting to change the past is also present, something that I feel in some ways I can relate to.

I guess this movie is about getting lost and then attempting to find yourself again and questioning can you forget the past and reconnect to those you used to be close to, in a sense.

I thought that the characters were very interesting, each with their own 'baggage'. As the movie went on, I became more curious to find out what would become of them and their relationship and where they would go. For some background, a flashback to when they had last seen and spoken to each other, a year ago back in the US, is shown, which was also interesting.

I guess whether you'd really enjoy this movie may depend on if you feel you could relate to the characters at all, there is maybe an element of mid life crisis there but also the usual themes of redemption and finding onself, as I keep saying, are the main themes and the comedy/trageic elements, that make up the movie, thats what its really about. If you have enjoyed Wes' other movies (listed in the second paragraph at the start of this review), then I'd definately recommend this. If not and it sounds interesting to you, then I'd also recommend it, it has the distinctively Wes 'feel' to it and, though there are other movies with similar themes or stories, it didn't feel like it was a story that had been overdone, it felt fairly original and I never felt as if it was going on too long or was overly drawn out. I know there will be others who will disagree with me and everyone is perfectly well entitled to their own opinions, some may well think this is a boring, self satisfying movie, it depends on what you think of the director and if you really 'get' his work I suppose but personally, I really quite enjoyed it and I thought I benefitted from seeing it on the big screen, there are some very pretty shots and you get perhaps a better 'feel' for it on the big screen too. Also don't expect everything to be cleared up at the end, some things are left unanswered.

I think its a shame that some reviews of this movie have been so negative, I can understand that not everyone will necessarily 'understand' it or particularly like it, some might think the story is slow, if you don't really connect to the characters but I just don't think its as bad as some people make it out to be, it seems. Its hard to explain, as I say it seems to be that either you love or hate the directors movies and I happen to be in the love side of things... what can I say other than I believe its worth a watch, I knew what to expect of it and really quite enjoyed it for what it was and I certainly wouldn't call it a really smug or boring or even racist movie really, what it portrays seemed pretty realistic to me, yes the westerners may seem a bit bossy but there were Indian characters too and the brothers did some good to locals as well, I didn't see it as being a racist movie as such at all.