The Darjeeling Limited

Wes Anderson is a filmmaker I'm glad to love. He's a filmmaker that always seems to have the last say in his projects, you can obviously tell he loves what he's doing and that his films are very personal. All while being personal, Wes also entertains us with his unique cinematic vision. No one has the style he has, people have tried to imitate but his personality can never be copied.

The Darjeeling Limited is no different in the sense that you can feel his personal touch. The more this film goes through my mind, i continue to find little aspect that i remember and it just puts a smile on my face. Limited is his most innocent film since Bottle Rocket which was Anderson's feature debut. Bottle Rocket and Darjeeling both really center on Owen Wilson's character no matter if it has an ensemble cast or not. Owen makes both of those movies his own. From all of Anderson's films, i've come to the conclusion that my favorite character is Dignan (played by Owen Wilson) in Bottle Rocket. Dignan, a petty criminal that wants to do big things. I'm sure it's well written on paper but Owen Wilson has a certain charm to him that makes the character.

Owen Continues to make the character his own in Darjeeling as the brother that wants to get his family back together. The innocence that Owen portrays is just wonderful, every sigh, every soft spoken word, i don't see why he doesn't get the attention he deserves especially while working with Anderson. This post has digressed from an actual write up of the Darjeeling Limited into a somewhat love letter to Owen Wilson. It just saddens me that we came pretty close to losing him. I'm glad he's still with us and everything he comes out in is worth watching just for what he brings to the character.


______________________


I also recently purchased The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack. In my opinion it's the best soundtrack Wes has put together. Yes, even more so then the amazing Life Aquatic which features Seu Jorge covering David Bowie in his native language. Also more so then The Royal Tenenbaums which is coated with lovely Beatles instrumentals and assorted pieces by the always great Mark Mothersbaugh. The Soundtrack is worth getting just for the amazing music by filmmaker Satyajit Ray, The Kinks and what is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of all time "Where do you go to (My lovely) by Peter Sarstedt.

Before Rambo...WALKER!

My friend at Cinemaisking just reviewed this film. You can find that here.

I do agree with him but at the end of the film I actually enjoyed what I saw. I suppose i looked more at the little pieces of genius that are spread throughout the film. I also must say that i did watch it twice. The first I was more questioning what i just watched. It is a very ambitious film and it does fail but not to the extent where it's so horrible i disliked it.


I've also noticed many similarities with this film and "There Will Be Blood". A few scenes have very similar set ups, the main characters also have same characteristics, the obvious posters looks similar (the Criterion dvd cover) and also Joe Strummer's music seemed to be used a bit like how Jonny Greenwood's music. I may be tripping but i saw this film twice and the similarities are there.




*I was stoned while watch this film* (Just to let you guys know.)

Radiohead/ Pink Floyd

Two of the most influential bands of all time. Pink Floyd has it's name in music history set in stone. As for Radiohead, they are still making music history with every new album. Radiohead has just hit the second highest peak of their career with "In Rainbows", the album that turned the industry on it's head.


"Ok Computer: A Classic Album Under Review" is a very good documentary about the renowned Radiohead Album that hit the airwaves in 1997. The film centers around a few people in the music business, music majors and close people to Radiohead. It's spread out with interviews and demonstrations of the songs itself with a very informative deconstruction of the album. I don't really need anyone to tell me how great an album is but it's enjoyable to see what other people have to say about the album. "Ok Computer" same as with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the moon" is somewhat a concept album. The themes of a society reaching it's end runs through "Ok computer" at a beautiful melodic pace but the album as a whole is always taken in differently by the listener. It can be a hopeful album or a simple "we are fucked" type of look on society. The documentary is a fun watch and it's interesting to see how many different ways the album can be viewed.


"The Making of the Dark Side of the Moon" is a wonderful documentary about what some consider to be the best album ever made. The hard work and technical achievements that went into making this album is just insane. It literally becomes a math course into how to make groundbreaking music without the help of the technology that we use now. This is literally a "Making of" and it's just amazing to watch. Anyone who likes music in general should watch this, it truly is a must see.