bucketing down in sydney town
torrents of water gushing down gutterspedestrians without umbrellas facing instant saturation
all outdoor activity recommended to be avoided unless necessarye.g. dashing from office to el-cheapo chinese restaurant then to theatre
the darjeeling limited has been on the want-to-see list for a whilemainly because of the pleasure had in watching the life aquatic
the last film made by director wes andersonit was quite a quirky film verging on downright weird
featuring some big-name actors and an excellent soundtrackit may just be the style of the director rather than a specific formula
but this latest film smacks of the previous one in a lot of waysthe most obvious being the choice of owen wilson as one of the leads
i find his characters are always annoyingly happy-go-luckythough given the mess of his private life
you would have to assume he is a very good actor
or maybe not averse to the ploy of any publicity is good publicity
in this film he is joined by an unlikely casting of adrien brodyyou would have to assume he is a very good actor
or maybe not averse to the ploy of any publicity is good publicity
who i have only ever seen in very serious roles
specifically his oscar-winning role in the ww2 flick the pianist
here he plays the role of the middle brother in this road (rail) film
the other brother is played by jason schwartzmann
someone i had heard of but not seen on screen before
he is also credited with being the writer of the film
apart from the appeal of the famous director
i was also drawn to the setting being a journey across india
the film trailer also indicated this would be an interesting film
but
i just kind of got bored with the predictability of the one-liners
this is owen wilson's claim to fame of course as he is a master of that style
he relished the role of the chief organiser older brother
bullying, teasing, belittling, dominating, admonishing
adrien brody seemed bored with the whole thing quite early on
which may well have been intended for the role he was playing
but it seemed to me to be coming from the actor not the character
a lot of time on the film is set on or around the train
as it makes it way across india providing the bonding time the boys seek
a lot of slapstick humour is used quite effectively
there are some laughs to be had even if predictable
hollywood's insistence on a sexual thread is there also
which i personally found to be quite distasteful
illustrating a modern, western, male attitude to sex
fortunately this is not a major part of the film
before long things get serious and they are forced out on land
and have to mix it with the locals
after the bungled attempt at saving some boys
caught in a flash-flood that sees one of the local boys drown
and our lads are then caught up in the despair around that
presumably this is the nadir of their journey
the message is delivered like a sledgehammer
including some quite patronising treatment of the locals
at which point i decided hollywood cannot do world movies
and the end could not come quick enough for me
it's a film of many components and messages
at times appealing and otherwise annoying
maybe a second shot is required
e.g. a weekly dvd rental
specifically his oscar-winning role in the ww2 flick the pianist
here he plays the role of the middle brother in this road (rail) film
the other brother is played by jason schwartzmann
someone i had heard of but not seen on screen before
he is also credited with being the writer of the film
apart from the appeal of the famous director
i was also drawn to the setting being a journey across india
the film trailer also indicated this would be an interesting film
but
i just kind of got bored with the predictability of the one-liners
this is owen wilson's claim to fame of course as he is a master of that style
he relished the role of the chief organiser older brother
bullying, teasing, belittling, dominating, admonishing
adrien brody seemed bored with the whole thing quite early on
which may well have been intended for the role he was playing
but it seemed to me to be coming from the actor not the character
a lot of time on the film is set on or around the train
as it makes it way across india providing the bonding time the boys seek
a lot of slapstick humour is used quite effectively
there are some laughs to be had even if predictable
hollywood's insistence on a sexual thread is there also
which i personally found to be quite distasteful
illustrating a modern, western, male attitude to sex
fortunately this is not a major part of the film
before long things get serious and they are forced out on land
and have to mix it with the locals
after the bungled attempt at saving some boys
caught in a flash-flood that sees one of the local boys drown
and our lads are then caught up in the despair around that
presumably this is the nadir of their journey
the message is delivered like a sledgehammer
including some quite patronising treatment of the locals
at which point i decided hollywood cannot do world movies
and the end could not come quick enough for me
it's a film of many components and messages
at times appealing and otherwise annoying
maybe a second shot is required
e.g. a weekly dvd rental
