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Over the weekend I headed in to Uptown to see the movie Darjeeling Limited. This movie is in limited release currently, playing at smaller, independent theaters. 

The movie stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman, and is a movie by Wes Anderson. Anderson also did the Royal Tennanbaums and Rushmore among others, which should give you some idea of the type of movie that he does. The basics of this movie is one brother (Owen Wilson) trying to bring together his brothers, who have been estranged since their father died, on a one month journey on the Darjeeling Limited in India. It’s essentially a dark comedy, but there are no point where you actually laugh, more, it provides moments of quiet amusement mixed with some dark situations.  

The movie is about their emotional or spiritual journey as much, or more, than their physical journey through India. It is slow, but interesting, and the characters are odd, like most of the characters that Anderson creates, but remain real. They come close to being unbelievable caricatures, but remain eccentrics. It is possible to identify with the brothers, each of which has handled their recent family problems in a different way as they try to find their way through life. 

This is probably my favorite Jason Schwartzman movie, as his character is not as grating and obnoxious as the roles he commonly plays. Owen Wilson’s role is more typical for him, but he spends the movie with his face wrapped in bandages. Adrien Brody’s character was the most interesting to me. Even though I just watched the Village, I didn’t even recognize that he was in both movies. Most of the other actors in the movie shared a uniqueness that is not often found in big studio movies.  

 Perhaps it’s the point I’ve reached in my life, but I can very much appreciate the journey that these brothers go through, as well as the need for a new and different environment to figure out what direction that journey should take. This movie will not appeal to the masses, and a movie about an emotional journey means not much actually happens, but for some, this movie will allow for a vicarious journey through grief, depression, and loss. 

Rating: Very Entertaining, bordering on Excellent.

Consider this an email forward of sorts. I’m basically passing on this interesting, and true, email with photos attached.

I found this on snopes.com, an urban legend debunking site. You can find more info on the photographer at his website.

Photographs show an encounter between a polar bear and some sled dogs.

Norbert Rosing’s striking images of a wild polar bear playing with sled dogs in the wilds of Canada’s Hudson Bay. The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear materialized out of the blue:

Obviously it was a well-fed Bear …

The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs…

On Monday morning, as I got close to work, the exit ramp off of the highway was partially blocked by a broken down car. This was the first time that I had seen this, but it wasn’t something I really though too much about.

On Tuesday morning, as I came down the same exit ramp, I saw orange lights, and saw a police car and a “first responders” truck that helps motorists that have broken down. In front of them was a car, broken down in the lane, partially blocking the ramp again. Different car, but almost the exact same situation. I took note of this, two days in a row?

This morning (Wednesday) as I came down the ramp I once again saw blinking hazard lights, and yet a third car was broken down in almost the exact same spot as the first two.

This cannot be coincidence, can it? Is this a sign from some higher force? Is this a joke being played on unsuspecting commuters? Is there some Bermuda triangle like force at work, disabling cars at that particular interesection? After passing that same spot about 300 times without seeing a stalled car, to see it three days in a row seems mind-bogglingly unlikely. And my mind is boggled…