Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Darjeeling Limited

On Sunday, I went with a friend of mine to see Wes Anderson's new film, The Darjeeling Limited. We went to the Oriental Theatre to see it, since it's not being played in many theaters (I've heard it's also not being released in the UK). If any of you are familiar with other Wes Anderson films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, or the Royal Tenenbaums, for example), you will notice a lot of similarities between the films- from casting (the Wilson brothers, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, etc.) to writing (co-written- Wes Anderson and this time Roman Coppola) to editing (Anderson uses his signature "bookmarking" style once again).

More than the film, however, I want to blog about experiencing the film. Firstly, I was really lucky because the Oriental played "Part 1" (called Hotel Chevalier) which was a short that depicts one of the character's relationship (Jason Schwartzmann) with his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman). I had heard before seeing the film that the short, which was played at film festivals, would not be played upon the film's release. Secondly, the venue in which I saw the film was important. I didn't see the film at Marcus Cinemas (with sticky floors and stadium seating)- I saw it at the Oriental Theatre (with high class overtones and a balcony). I really think these contextual aspects of experiencing the film influenced what I got out of it.

P.S. I definitely recommend it!!

1 comment:

sarah said...

I want to see that at the Oriental too. I guess as of last Friday everyplace is supposed to play Hotel Chevalier first. Which is sweet. :]