The Darjeeling Limited

I’m no fan of Wes Anderson -- there’s something offputting to me in trying so hard to look like you’re not trying too hard -- so I was surprised to like this whimsical train trip through India. I suspect the travelogue mitigated the wacky interpersonal dynamics. Of the persons involved I had no great expectations, but Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and especially Adrien Brody turned out to be an involving threesome, as estranged brothers trying to re-bond a year after their father’s sudden death. They go on a capricious spiritual quest concocted by the eldest, visiting various Indian shrines as the train stops. The younger two don’t know that their ultimate destination is a remote monastery, where their mother has become a sister. Anjelica Huston, when we finally see her, lends a welcome weight to the feathery antics of her cinematic sons. The trio are not really plausible as brothers, but I take that as part of the point of this Odd Triple. But as a brother myself, I certainly tuned into their interaction, and found it believable. And Anderson is surprisingly successful in negotiating a transition from madcap to serious, with a sense of purpose somewhere between gawking tourist and dedicated documentarian. He has the taste to emulate Renoir’s The River and to appropriate Satyajit Ray’s music, so I’m inclined to give his quirks a pass on this one. (2007, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-67.)