The Darjeeling Limited

Some try to label the films of Wes Anderson as an acquired taste. More correctly Anderson is the most idiosyncratic American director since David Lynch. Name another film that has launched as many successful careers as Bottle Rocket. Anderson is championed by critics as well as established pros like Peter Bogdanovich. So do I really care if the general public wants to see the latest Wes Anderson film as much as I do?
At the press screening of The Darjeeling Limited a short subject that is a sort of prologue to the film, Hotel Chevalier, was shown first then critics were herded into the theater lobby for cookies (the good ones with icing on top) and hot tea, and only then did the feature unwind. That extra human touch to the screening feels as fine as the forgotten music tracks that pop up in Anderson films. In Darjeeling one song stands out for its coolness as well as its obscurity: Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go To My Lovely. I need this soundtrack spinning now.
The plot involves three brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman) who journey by train on a pilgrimage across India. The usual eccentric mishaps that would follow such a trio occur with frequency. Along the way we discover more than we want to know about all of them, including the reason for their own family dysfuction.
Hotel Chevalier will be shown with the film at festivals and available on the eventual DVD release. Anderson blends moments of family bonding with both dramatic and comic interludes. In Darjeeling the lensing is accentuated with stylistic whip-pan movements that increase in duration as the journey draw to an end.