The wallpaper is terrific, really it is. And the hand-stitched tablecloths. Seriously, fabulous. But surface delights aside, there is no connection to the characters here. With about twenty minutes left in the picture I asked aloud, “when is the movie going to start?”
Rarely do Ann and I disagree on a movie this much (she really dug it) but I just couldn’t get past the problem that I just couldn’t find the story. What was the conflict? Where are these people coming from? What do they want? What are we rooting for? And, frankly, the whole Kipling-esque sub-continent gawking seems a little bit crude. The only thing to actually happen in this movie is the death of a poor village boy – an opportunity for our three rich travellers to examine their place in the world? Sure, maybe – but, better yet, an opportunity to blast the Kinks and have a meaningless slo-mo tracking shot as hipster in cool haircuts walk across the frame.
Wes Anderson makes terrific AT&T and American Express commericals. Feature films just really aren’t his calling.
