Richard Brody profiled Wes a few weeks ago for the New Yorker. On Brody’s excellent film blog for the New Yorker, Front Row, he added some additional commentary (and praise) for “The Darjeeling Limited”:

I’ve seen it many, many times since that press screening two years ago. It has not only held up but gotten richer; each viewing yields fresh wonders.

I hope all our Istabuli readers will be heading to the Istanbul International Film Festival (April 5-20) where The Darjeeling Limited will make its Turkish premiere. The Festival has an overall “’68 Generation” theme and will be presenting some wonderful films (Godard’s Rolling Stones doc Sympathy for the Devil to Hopper’s Easy Rider). TDL will show in the “American Independents” category alongside The Savages and (Team Anderson collaborator) Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding. Two hundred films will be screened in all. If I am not mistaken, this is the second Middle East showing for TDL, after the Israeli premier earlier this year. So Bosporus bathers, don’t miss this wonderful opportunity!

Paris fashion week is in full swing and Marc Jacobs, as usual, has been impressing the critics. We of course know that Marc Jacobs (creative director for Louis Vuitton) had a close working relationship with Wes Anderson on The Darjeeling Limited with the creating of the spectacular luggage and suits used by Francis and his brothers. But in the Guardian piece it seems that the film that “most influences” Jacobs his The Royal Tenenbaums:

Louis Vuitton only started making clothes 10 years ago under the aegis of Marc Jacobs, almost 150 years after the label first knocked out the ubiquitous bags. But its fashion division has become a credible player and last year the label achieved record growth. As if to rub in the American-ness, Jacobs has said that the film that influences him most is not Breakfast at Tiffany’s but The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson’s offbeat film about a dysfunctional family.

Anderson was also in attendance at this show (as was Sofia Coppola and many others).

(ed’s note: Welcome to our newest contributor, South Paw!)

As “The Darjeeling Limited” is nearing the end of its Australia run, it’s time for us to take a look at how the film has fared. Jason Schwartzman took a promo trip down under a short while ago, and though we can’t take a trip ourselves, we’ll soar the internet skies instead. Below is a look at what the Aussies have been saying about Mr. Anderson’s latest. A couple of these links have been posted before, but have been included again here for your convenience. Enjoy!

The charmingly-named Wollondilly Advertiser (Wollondilly Shire is just south of Sydney in New South Wales and supplies the city with most of its waters) reviewed TDL in its January 22, 2008 Edition in “Oh Brothers, What an Amazing Journey”. The WA described TDL as “unpredictable and “impossible to categorize”, but also that it “has elements of a travel adventure, it is partly family drama, it is often funny and sometimes downright bizarre.” Overall a positive review, “breath of fresh air” for audiences and the good people of the Shire.
Read the rest of this entry…

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Seems like our Censor Board has certainly gone green, if its latest action is anything to go by.  The release of critically acclaimed Hollywood flick The Darjeeling Limited has been prohibited by the Indian Censor Board, which claims that the filmmakers failed to get adequate clearance before shooting Indian flora and fauna.

“A stay has been put on the film’s release until the filmmakers get a clearance from the Animal Welfare Board. It is something that they still haven’t produced before us,” said a Censor Board member who did not wish to be named.

The film has some wildlife scenery, shot in Rajasthan. While this footage was okay with the Censor Board (animals in the wild), what was not okay with them was a snake in a cage. So they demanded that the producers present a clearance certificate from the Animal Welfare Board. And a venomous request it turned out to be, for the producers drew a blank. “It turns out that free wildlife is not offensive if shot on camera.

However, for something like snakes or other animals in cages, clearance from the Animal Welfare Board is crucial, since we need to know that no wildlife was harmed during the process of filming a product. We are awaiting what the Animal Welfare Board has to say on the footage of the same. Until then, the release of the film is stalled,” said the source.

The film was to release today in theatres across India. The Darjeeling Limited, produced by Fox Searchlight, is a comedy that traces the journey of three estranged brothers in India, after their father’s death. The journey proves to be therapeutic as they resolve the fault lines in their relationships. Starring Hollywood heavyweights Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody, the film also features Irrfan Khan and Jason Schwartzman.

What is going to truly bite the producers here is that the snake in the cage scene is a rather crucial one to the plot, from what viewers at preview screenings have noticed. A bad snakes-and-ladder move for studio execs; they just didn’t anticipate such a bad slide.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Rushmore Academy. Please leave your holiday wishes — for our community or even for Wes* — at the Yankee Racers forum (‘Holiday wishes’ thread).

* RA.com is not an officially sanctioned site, and Wes probably won’t read your wish.

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Some links:

• “Trains offer insight into India,” Brisbane Times (Australia)
• Slash Film lists TDL as the #38 in their definitive films of 2007 list. It is #1 on our list… maybe we should publish our own?
• Nice review from The Age (Australia)
• The Sydney Morning Herald gives Limited four stars:

I hesitate to use the word real, because this is India as seen by a director who likes to put his stamp on reality…. That has given the film its heart and a strikingly rich colour design – purple, turquoise, ruby, at least inside the train. This is India as in one of those highly coloured paintings of a Hindu god. It’s absolutely gorgeous but every so often the train stops and we go outside, into the dusty yellow plains of Rajasthan, where reality is more present.

Happy holidays, everyone!