By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Darjeeling Preview Limited
I will get into The Darjeeling Limited a little later, but…
Perhaps the most reportable part of the film was the little 5 minute (roughly) pre-film film that Wes Anderson did with Jason Schwartzman that was shown last night at the Fox lot screening of the film… and is not expected to be a part of the theatrical release of the film.
The short takes place just before the brothers get on the train and features on of Schwartzman’s Jack’s ex-girlfriends… played by Natalie Portman. Yes, internet geeks, another Natalie Portman scene involving sex, a naked Portman, and no frontal nudity.
But it is actually quite compelling… almost as though Anderson is painting Portman, as so many artists seem to want to do. You have Mike Nichols view of her, The Wachowski view of her, Wong Kar Wai’s view of her, etc. And the way Anderson uses her here is particularly painter-like… quite compelling… quite beautiful… quite sexy… but not about the personal bits.
Ironically, this is the part of the film that the internet will most desire… and will probably have to wait for DVD to see… unless Searchlight is cleverly going to let this segment loose on the web… where it will serve as a rather approproiate preview of the bigger film.
What wasn’t compelling, by the way, is that the short was played as though it was the feature and we were “treated” to a 10 minute break afterwards before the main film began. That felt rather pretentious. But the model for this – which may or may not be in Anderson’s lexicon – is Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life which had a short before the film which eventually invaded the feature a little over an hour into the movie.
Either way, nice to see anyone pushing the form in the mainstream.
Yeah, I initially thought the short followed by a five-minute break for tea and cookies (which turned into a 10-15 minute break) was unnecessary and pretentious, too. By the time the movie ended, however, I decided it was an inspired move.
Because of the break (and the tea and cookies), the short felt more like a piece of pre-history than it would have had it been attached to the print as a prologue. The break put just enough distance between it and the movie proper, I felt.
Too bad it won’t be shown in front of the film theatrically. I’m sure it would be impractical, and audiences (and exhibitors) wouldn’t stand for it. But taht bit of weirdness certainly puts you in the proper frame for the movie.
Apparently, you’ll be able to see the short film at a few Apple Stores:
http://www.indiewire.com/buzz/070916.html#009827
I have read more positives about that short than the actual movie itself. This does leave me confused and hoping Fox realizes that Anderson fans would love to spend 10 extra minutes in a theatre watching this short film. If they can add to 28 weeks later and Napoleon Dynamtie around 10 minutes of extra footage. Searchlight should be able to actually put this short film out with the flick from the beginning of limited releasing.
When I saw it about two weeks ago there was no break between the short and the film. What was funny was that despite being handed a note from Anderson about the short, a journalist in the room let out a loud ‘HUH???’ when the Fox Searchlight logo popped up after HOTEL CHEVALIER.
I understand that the short will be available on Apple.com (or maybe it’s ITunes) as well, which is surprising considering the nudity… the first Red Band short?