7 Reasons I’m Excited For The Darjeeling Limited

1. Wes Anderson hasn’t made a bad film yet. Bottlerocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic are four of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Why? His musical, visual and dramatic sensibilities exactly match my own. His characters are more subtly flawed than anyone else’s. The actors he uses and reuses are perfectly-cast. If I had any movie-making talent, my movies would be like his movies.

2. This trailer. Welcome confirmation that this is indeed a Wes Anderson film, the trailer has everything one would expect to see: the beautiful symmetry of the shots, the hyper-conscious attention to framing, dry humor, deeply-flawed relationships between characters and slow-motion sequences. All of it adds up to an effect of very basic coolness, which is down to Anderson’s tremendous amount of work (he wrote, directed, edited, choreographed, etc. etc.).

3. All of the blog buzz. Hypeful, Untitled Records, Bamcat, Cinematical, Gorilla vs. Bear and Pete Ashton are clearly people who know their movies. From everything I’ve read, lots of other bloggers are as excited about the picture as I am.

The Darjeeling Limited poster

4. It’s set in India. I’ve got many connections to the country, which I’ve never visited despite traveling to neighboring Nepal on three separate occasions. My mother, brother and father have all been to India, my best friend in high school was Indian, my girlfriend is half-Indian, I created a Ticket to Ride: Hindoostan map and I love Indian food. No other country can boast as interesting a history or culture as India, so I’m nearly wetting myself just thinking of mileage that Anderson can get out of the setting.

5. I’ve already learned about two new songs that rock, both by the Kinks, just from the trailer. “Strangers” is an instant favorite, while “This Time Tomorrow” is another gem, and both of course fit perfectly into the trailer. I’m slightly disappointed that Mark Mothersbaugh doesn’t seem to be in the credits, since I thoroughly enjoyed his ear for a good melody in past movies, as well as his affection for the harpsichord, cello and electric organ. Still, none of those instruments has much place in a movie set in India, so I’m not too worried. I’m sure the entire soundtrack will be yet another one to savor.

6. It’s been far too long since the last Wes Anderson movie. The Life Aquatic, widely considered to be Anderson’s weakest movie (if it can be called that), was released on 2004. It’s been three years, which is plenty long to endure the endless string of cookie-cutter crap that Hollywood churns out year after year. A Wes Anderson movie is not only a breath of fresh air, it’s a treasure.

7. It involves trains. Railroads have held my interest for a while now, playing a part in some of my favorite pastimes including Edward Gorey, Ticket to Ride, and Railroad Tycoon. The movie trailer has a particularly good line in “What’s going on? / I don’t know, I think the train’s lost. / How can a train be lost? It’s on rails.” How true.