I'd better confess at the beginning, if I'm going to write a post titled 'Wes Anderson'. I haven't seen The Royal Tenenbaums. I'm sorry. It's on my list- promise.
The Darjeeling Limited
(2007)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0838221/
By the time I reached home from the cinema I still hadn't decided if I liked this movie or not. It's not a question of whether it was bad or good (it is quirky) but whether the irritating aspects outweigh the engaging ones. Brief synopsis: Three brothers go on a spiritual journey in India.
So weighing in on a strange, biased and corrupt scale...:
SPOLIERS AHOY!
Engagingly, we have Adrian Brody. Kudos to the costume and props departments- he looks fantastic in that gray suit. And Dad's glasses- seriously! I am certain I'm not the only one who wants a pair after seeing this movie. They are gosh-darn fashionable. Even though Adrian Brody is likely the only person who can actually pull them off. And he manages to be the least irritating brother without seeming unrelated.
The soundtrack. Locationally appropriate and is appropriated from the original scores of some Indian films.
The train carriages scene near the end of the film. This was a stunning moment, a highly articulate piece of filmmaking. I loved it. It was also placed well in the timeline, drawing me back into the film...but perhaps I shouldn't need to be drawn back in the primary instance? However it was effective.
Annoyingly, we have Jason Schwartzman. Well, Jack, his character. No, wait, Schwartzman has writing credits. So both! If I find out it wasn't Jason who wrote the thankfully-brief-already-too-long part one, nor his scenes with the attendant, I might have to apologise for this. Jack is a pathetic, repulsive, egocentric little man. Is he supposed to be? I was glad he shared scenes with Peter (Brody) so that I didn't have to look at him. Believability factor takes a beating as women are seduced by him. A friend compared him to Tom Cruise- this is not a compliment.
Part one is an off-putting, alienating start to the film, especially if you don't know it is coming (and perhaps if you haven't seen a Wes Anderson film before). So if you're reading this as someone who hasn't seen the movie yet, then you're already in a better position than I was. Along the same vein- there isn't a Part 3. Don't bother waiting till the end of the credits for it, I've checked for you.
Owen Wilson's character, Francis, is annoying, but he is supposed to be, and it is entertaining. Yet I find it difficult to not expect him at any moment to challenge someone to a 'walk-off'. That face and manner of speaking! Even with the bandages and older-brother wrinkles it remains so distinctive- and so fitting to the role he played in Zoolander. I wouldn't say he's a bad actor- I shall hope to see him in a future role where he doesn't trigger the memory.
I seem to be still fencing sitting on this one. When it was good it was very very good and when it was bad it was urgh. Forget the scales and hand me some editing tools!
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
(2004)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362270/
I liked this one. Bit slow on pacing particularly from the second quarter on, but it is imitating a nature documentary after all (whoa back off nature buffs! I loved that penguin movie...old stereotypes die hard, tongues in cheeks all that) The hypercolour is fun, Bill Murray is good, and the shots of the sliced ship interior are cheeky and well played. There's a bit too much of the father/son 'drama' which I get bored of easily, time that would have been better spent sketching out some of the other characters- for example Noah Taylor, who is a fantastic actor, gets a number of short lines I could probably count on my fingers alone.
The soundtrack is awesome. David Bowie songs arranged for acoustic guitar and sung in Portuguese, the arrangements and performances done by one of the actors: Seu Jorge. (At least playing the songs resulted in this talented actor getting more screentime). Yes. Great soundtrack.
I think Wes Anderson's favourite colour is over-saturated yellow. Just a guess.
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3 comments:
I agree. Wes Anderson's favourite colour does seem to be oversaturated yellow.
It is a pity Jason Swartzman's character is annoying, and he happened to write the character, because I was hoping that he might stop being type cast as the awkward annoying guy (seen in Marie Antoinette, Shop Girl and I Heart Huckabees) but if he wrote his own character, he has signed his own death notice.
I'm not sure that he did script Jack's parts- it would make sense if those were the bits he did however.
Do you think you'll go to see it?
no, it is the kind of movie I wait for dvds for. Unless there is a particular aspect that is best on the big screen, and if it comes down here (which is unlikely).
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