Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson in Fox Searchlight's The Darjeeling Limited

Pity, because Anderson is right, you do have to see one before the other, the short making the feature a far richer, more life-affirming and brilliantly emotional animal than it would probably have been otherwise. The final revelation (and subtle joke) doesn’t even work if you haven’t seen Hotel Chevalier, and I can just imagine paying audiences walking out of the theater scratching their heads wondering what it all meant.

So, I guess what I am saying here, and let me be as clear as possible, is if you’re going to be seeing The Darjeeling Limited great jumpin’ flying muskrats in heavens head over to iTunes and download this short film right frickin’ now! (We now return you to your regularly scheduled movie review.)

The plot of the film is a relatively straight forward (or, as straight forward as these kinds of things get in what I like to call Wes World). Three brothers, eldest Francis (Owen Wilson), middle child Peter (Adrien Brody) and youngest Jack (Jason Schwartzman, whom also co-wrote the script with Anderson and Roman Coppola), have not spoken to one another for a year. The last time they were all together they buried their father, and after Francis has a not-so-accidental collision with a hillside while riding his motorcycle he decides the three of them must reunite and find some way to put the past behind them.

Now he has them trekking across India on a spiritual quest that starts badly and then veers wildly off-course thanks to some over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, pepper spray and a lethal snake. Now stranded in the middle of nowhere with only eleven suitcases, a printer and a laminating machine, these three brothers with nothing in common finally set out on an unplanned adventure that could finally turn them into the one thing none of them could have anticipated: A family.

There is something about this film that completely enraptured me. From the early moments of the brothers trading cigarettes and barbs on the train to latter scenes sitting around a convent speaking with openly emotional hostility laced with neediness with a mother (Anjelica Huston) they do not know, this movie had me solidly under its spell. This journey is filled with hope, despair, angst, resentment and togetherness, the layers richly peeling back the further the trio head into the heart of India.

All of this is certainly still an acquired taste. Like Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums before it this is a film about a family of eccentrics unlike any most of us probably know. Their quirks and their foibles are more than a bit oddly surreal, and trying to relate to them, especially early on, is like trying to use a bag filled with porcupine quills as a pillow.

What makes this work, however, is the fact, like Rushmore, all of this peculiar eccentricity exists in a world that is concrete and genuine. I may not know people like Francis, Peter and Jack but I do know many of the feelings their trying desperately to deal with and as such my heart can’t help but slowly go out to them as they all try to pick up the pieces a build something beautiful. They’re final steps along the train track speak of a hopeful joy we’ve all reached with outstretched arms grasping for, the fact whether or not nowhere near as important as the fact that they’re actually grabbing for it.

Questions arise. Would Wilson’s Francis make as much of an impression had tragic recent events involving him not have come to light? A large part of me doesn’t think so, the sight of him running around in bandages covering scars we just can’t imagine made even more visceral and engaging due to this knowledge. More, I can’t help but reiterate just how important the short is to this picture, the final comedic and emotional payoffs meaning ever so little if a person hasn’t seen it. 

For me, these questions gently fall by the wayside, Anderson and company weaving an intoxicating blend of pain and laughter I just can’t stop thinking about. For all its challenges, The Darjeeling Limited is a journey worth taking the time to discover, and while the ride can be bumpy and the road more than a bit chaotic the payoffs are so sublime it just doesn’t matter. In the end, this is a quest worth taking, and those with the passion to do so might just find a cinematic rapture boarding on the spiritual.

Film Rating: êêê1/2  (out of 4)

(10/22 Update: Starting on Oct. 26 Fox will begin showing Hotel Chevalier in front of The Darjeeling Limited. Why it took three full weeks into the film's release for the studio to do this your guess is as good as mine. Be that as it may, if I was recommending you see this picture before the announcement I'm recommending it even more now.)

Additional Links:

-  The Darjeeling Limited Theatrical Trailer