No Hotel Chevalier Short? Bad Darjeeling Limited Reviews?
By Peter Sciretta/Sept. 4, 2007 12:46 pm EST
The short takes place in one room of a French hotel (Hotel Chevalier) and serves as “a short epilogue of one heartbreaking history of love and the prologue of the travel told in ‘The Darjeeling Limited.” Hotel Chevalier screened Out of competition in the upcoming Venice Film Festival, and is also scheduled to make an appearance at the New York Film Festival.
And the first Darjeeling Limited reviews are starting to come in, and they don’t look good. The Hollywood Reporter writes:
“But when current affairs are in such a parlous state, it’s almost unforgivable to make a film about stupid American men traveling abroad with not the slightest awareness of or reference to anything that’s going on in the world. The film is overly pleased with itself, and the characters are way too self-absorbed. There’s never a man-eating tiger around when you need one.”
“The whimsical and insightful charm that Wes Anderson and his filmmaking pals have displayed in such films as “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” curdles ruinously in the Indian sun that shines so brightly in their smug and self-satisfied new film The Darjeeling Limited.”
Ouch. For the record, I’m a big fan of Wes Anderson’s earlier work. Bottle Rocket is a great indie comedy, but Rushmore is his perfect film. Many people love The Royal Tenenbaums more, but to me it seemed like the beginning of Anderson’s movement of being quirky just to be quirky. And even then, I still very much enjoyed Tenenbaums and even The Life Aquatic. The Darjeeling Limited looks nothing like his earlier films, aside from the returning cast (Owen and Jason), the soundtrack, and choice of camera angles. Okay, may-be it isn’t far off – but at least the characters, at first glance, seem to be less quirky just to be quirky than his last two films. And I’m still excited to see this flick despite THR’s negative review.
photo credit: NataliePortman.com
