Darjeeling Limited, because sometimes people care what I think of a movie
Though I'm not the disaffected offspring of the empty shell upper class, I do love Wes Anderson movies. The butterfly-under-glass aesthetic, often criticized as a crutch, is part of what I love the most. Yes, each scene is art directed within an inch of its life, but it works for me.
Introductory paragraph over, so on to the whining. I was distracted by the Apple products in the film! Product placement hell! It was minimal, to the point where I wouldn't have noticed it in another movie. However! In a film where each song, knick-knack and bathrobe was lovingly chosen to create a tableau of halted emotional development and stale achievement, it matters.
When I see the outdated luxury of a French hotel, I do not want to see an iPod there. Wes Anderson characters do not use iPods! They use weird non-existent velvet phonographs that match their outfits or the wallpaper. (I should note that Leona liked that there was an iPod because it let her know it was set in the present. I always assumed all his movies were set in the present, as in whenever you were watching the movie. Apparently, that is not what everyone thinks. Timeless!)
I am tired from being mad about the iPod. So in conclusion: best character develoment in any of his movies; good use of India as a setting and not at all racist to me although some critics disagree; funny. I really liked the movie. Ask me something about it and I will stop being mad about the iPod. Stupid iPod.
Phrases you used that pleased me:
"disaffected offspring of the empty shell upper class"
"butterfly-under-glass aesthetic"
"outdated luxury of a French hotel"
You know who else does that (phrases in a movie review that please me)? AO Scott at the NYTimes movie review. NYTimes, baby! Therefore, I have concluded you should be a movie reviewer so I can read your clever phrasing and chuckle knowingly. Good job.
P.S. I am glad you liked this movie. I forgot I wanted to see it, and now I will.
Posted by
Joy |
11/28/2007 7:30 PM
I thought "a tableau of halted emotional development and stale achievement" was pretty good as well.
Posted by
Able Danger |
11/29/2007 9:13 PM
It is true that I disagree about the iPod. It drives me nuts in all his other movies that rich people eschew EVERYTHING modern. I want things to be either set in the past, or to be clearly in the present. The use of electronics in this one convinced me that these were quirky rich people who dress like it's 1982, but know about 2007.
Also: the way the iPod is used is totally authentic to the character using it! It is a pretentious manipulation of the moments in his life, just like all the other little affectations and narcotics he uses. So there.
Posted by
l.ementary |
11/30/2007 12:48 AM
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