The Darjeeling Limited

Two days ago, we've had the chance to watch Wes Anderson's latest: THE DARJEELING LIMITED.
We really had a wonderful moment. This movie is really an amzing comedy, be careful, it's not a "silly" comedy. It's witty and draws most of its power from great Character writing. Once again we discover that to have a great film you need really interesting characters, and that's getting more scarce from the films I've seen recently.
The three brothers of "The Darjeeling Limited" are so touching, humorous and cool that you immediately feel great in their company.
The cast is amazing and we also have an Adrian Brody in one of his best roles.
Besides from the characters, Robert D. Yeoman's photography is gorgeous, not in a"Showing Off" kind of way, but beautiful on colour and simplicity.
The script is also very well written (even if it could be 5 minutes shorter) and that's really an immense pleasure to enjoy short a great film.
Another thing that really is important to me: that film should be an example of how you should show a foreign country/culture in a movie.
That's one of the first american fiction films that I see, that was shot abroad and doesn't show the locals as complete idiots or builds his comedy on making fun of the country and all the hard time adapting to it. And it's not a holiday postcard either.
So if the film is showing in a theatre near you: run and watch it!

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Nous avons eu la chance de voir "À bord du Darjeeling Limited" de Wes Anderson alors qu'il repassait au cinéma à Rennes... Quel plaisir!
C'est vraiment un excellent film que je conseille vivement à tout le monde.
Et non, ça ne fait pas partie de ces films bizarres qui durent trois heures en Noir & Blanc et que j'ai pu vous conseiller dans le passé.
Celui-ci est plein de couleurs et il n'est pas ennuyeux une seconde.
Les personnages sont très bien écrits et sont immédiatement attachants. Ils ont quelque chose des Pieds Nickelés tout en étant remplis d'humanité et de personnalité.
Les acteurs sont excellents de justesse et Adrian Brody tient ici un rôle qui le rend franchement irrésistible.
L'histoire se passe en Inde et c'est aussi exemplaire dans la façon dont est traité l'Inde, sa culture et ses habitants. Point ici de moquerie débile ou de cartes postale touristique, on suit vraiment trois personnages dans leur aventure indienne, mais sans aucune trace de ce que l'on rencontre le plus souvent dans les films qui prennent place dans un univers "exotique".
L'histoire est très bien écrite et les images de Robert D. Yeoman sont superbes de simplicité et de couleurs.
On vous recommande très fortement!!!!

Road Trip

Music: "Séquence Voiture (Take 1)" by Miles Davis, taken from the "Lift to the scaffold/Ascenseur pour l'échaffaud" Soundtrack (1958-Fontana Recordings).

Sad News

Hi all,
A sad announcement: the amazing singer/Storyteller Utah Phillips has passed away a few days ago.
News come directly from his family on the blog they were holding for him.
I got the chance to discover him a few years ago thanks to Ani Difranco, who compiled some of his work and added some of her sound to it, to make it more widely available to younger generations with the Album "Past didn't go anywhere" which is probably one of the best records I have in my collection-it is highly inspiring and wise.
The official obituary, a very touching text about this unique man, can be found on the official website.

I'll post here some quotes from his songs that deserve some real good playing:

"I learnt in Korea that I would never again, in my life, abdicate to somebody else my right, and my ability, to decide who the enemy is." (ANARCHY)

"Now matter how new-age you get, old age gonna kick your ass."

"If I cannot dictate the conditions of my labour, I will hence forth cease to work.
I learnt when I was young that the only true life I had was the life of my brain.
But if it's true, what sense does it make to hand that brain to somebody for eight hours a day, for their particular use,on the presumption that at the end of the day they will give it back on a non mutilated condition?" (BUM ON THE ROD)

Ok,all I can recommend is to try to find his record and enjoy all his wonderful
stories!


If you can't find them, it took me hours to actually find the lyrics online, so I'd rather share them: here they are!
See you...