Wes will paddle out of this
In this N.Y. Times video piece, Darjeeling Limited Wes Anderson discusses how he threw a scene together, partly, as it happened, in the dark.
I know things look bad for Wes right now. Critically Darjeeling seems to be faring roughly the same as The Life Aquatic, only the patience of the pulse-takers has worn thin. The film has a fairly crummy 50% rating from the Rotten Tomatoes cream-of-the-crop right now, it will almost certainly die commercially, the sharks are circling and I’m told that Wes’s attorneys are negotiating right now with industry prosecutors to keep him out movie jail.
But things will turn. They always do for hard-working people of faith. Wes is too smart and clever not to paddle his way out of this. He’s a gifted filmmaker. He made Rushmore. The Gods will help him bounce back.
I’m going to write something semi-substantial later today about it, but I didn’t despise Darjeeling Limited — it’s so carefully compsed and beautiful to look at, and I absolutely love those two songs (“Where Do You Go To, My Lovely?” and “Les Champs Elysee“), and there’s something to be said for a staid, airless film that’s obviously been made by a guy with a sense of style and impeccable taste.
Isn’t Wes Anderson as vacant as Sofia Coppola? You’re too easy on him.
I bet Wes is feeling pretty good right now.
Darjeeling’s getting much better reviews than Aquatic – there are some detractors, but I’ve read many (Newsweek, USA Today) that call it a “return to form.”
Also, why does “cream of the crop” include New York Post (negative review) over New York Magazine (positive)? The larger trend is it’s receiving 65% positive reviews on RT which isn’t overwhelming, but is a step up from Aquatic.
And, RT makes no mention of the Rolling Stone rave (part of the fall preview) or the Glenn Kenny blog review.
You can see more good press on http://rushmoreacademy.com/
Arch– No.
Yeah, toss Wes into movie jail and throw away the key!
Long live the directors of Sydney White and Good Luck Chuck!
Is that scene indicative of the rest fo the film because it’s a pretty great scene: evocative music, precise choreography, and laid back, naturalistic acting. What’s not to like.
Sofia is not without her own immense talent, yet she is much more vacant than Wes. Wes is caught up in his tiny little art design of a world, but what was great about Rushmore is it was about a character who did those things, but in a somewhat real world. The worlds in Max’s head are now the worlds that all Wes’s characters inhabit. The Max Fischer players are now the Wes Anderson players and they now play in very specific Wes Anderson dioramas. Wes mines the same territory, but it is a territory that resonates. Coppola (the Lost in Translation version) has nothing underneath a more subtle and just as planned veneer as Wes has on his movies.
Pinko Punko, leaving Coppola out of it, I think you’ve exactly nailed the difference between the Wes Anderson it’s cool to like and the one that’s cool to hate on these days. Instead of the Wes Anderson diorama being an object in a real world movie, the movies themselves have become the dioramas. It’s like the world has folded in on itself. We’ve been sucked into the little blue box in Mulholland Dr.
And with that ladies and gentlement, I leave you my last knee-jerk defense of Wes Anderson until I see the movie.
Wells to Pinko Punko: Let me chime in also — that’s a very astute analysis. The Max Fischer players have either taken over the asylum or become the asylum itself. Either way, that was pretty spot-on.
Wells, you should start up http://www.moviejail.com so we can keep track of who’s in and out of it. Oh, you mean it’s just one of your many affectations? Oh. Never mind.
Wells to jeffmcm: Mentioning the words “Wes Anderson” and “movie jail” in the same sense is an affectation? Or starting a site called http://www.moviejail.com would be an affectation? Tell me which one, and while you’re doing that try and share how you got to be such a irritating human being.
When Bob Dylan ditched folk music, the folkies tried to put him in music jail. Same with the Beatles when they drifted into politics and psychedelia. And Woody Allen was harrassed when he started making “serious” films, just as Kubrick was mocked when he went all arty with 2001. There are some people who want to see the artists they admire re-make the same works over and over, while there are those of us who think it’s more important that they follow their muse and go wherever it takes them, whether it conforms to safe, conventional tastes or not. So good for you, Wes Anderson. Ignore the blow-hard bloggers.
When Bob Dylan ditched folk music, the folkies tried to put him in music jail. Same with the Beatles when they drifted into politics and psychedelia. And Woody Allen was harrassed when he started making “serious” films, just as Kubrick was mocked when he went all arty with 2001. There are some people who want to see the artists they admire re-make the same works over and over, while there are those of us who think it’s more important that they follow their muse and go wherever it takes them, whether it conforms to safe, conventional tastes or not. So good for you, Wes Anderson. Ignore the blow-hard bloggers.
wow are you out of the loop.
wes is like paul mcartney when he didn’t make music with john lennon i.e. owen wilson-
alright but not great.
it’s owen not being there.. that’s the problem.
“… I didn’t despise Darjeeling Limited …”
-Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere
Now that’s a pull-quote! I had no interest in this movie before, but now …
As of the most recent RT check, Darjeeling is at 67% while Elah is at 68%…
Don’t forget that the Pauline Kael cultists — a strange band that very much includes AO Scott of the New York Times, who owes his job to her — despise Anderson for having had the guts to out Pauline and her casual cruelty and manipulativeness in an amazing piece in the Times magazine a few years ago. Giving “Darjeeling Limited” to Scott to review is like asking Lillian Hellman to review Mary McCarthy’s memoirs — the editors should have recognized his conflict of interest and assigned it to someone else.
mizoguchi: the world is a darker and more insidious place than you imagine.
A.O. Scott’s review is listed near the top of the “positives” on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic and the NYFF stamp of approval means those critics are of course supporting the film, Kaelists or not. So the film has a big NYC intelligentsia/media wind in its sails.
That should get it all the way to…New Jersey.
Didn’t anyone notice that the critz did everything they could for “Zodiac” and “DeathProof,” but the unwashed public was not moved to enter those turnstiles. We’ll see….
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