Complaints Darjeeling Limited by Anderson and Black Hole by Burns

Darjeeling Limited by Anderson

Anderson’s films are about imagination. They catch the infinite possibilities of the mind, but always display a pessimism, a kinda shame at the inability of the protagonists to fit in. At that, Anderson films can only be watched in 5 minute intervals, pacing and ideas follow, and then the film continues, but Anderson’s complete lack of interest in India is shocking, no characters pop up like a Mira Nair film, very little of India is actually shown, and the emotional issues remains unresolved. One wishes that Anderson, like his characters, could find his fellows and move on. He’s a great film maker with an excellent pastiche, but he needs to move into deeper waters if his work is going to survive. The same archetypes treading the same terrian, the exotic as a means of escape, these won’t help him here.

Black Hole by Burns

Burns’ work can either be amazing, or well dissapoting. Black Hole is probably his worst work, it lacks any tension, while it’s cool that Burns doesn’t make the mysterious teen plague a plot point, the characters stories (with the except of Chris’ story) never really go anywhere. We’re just immersed in a world of outcastes, marijuana, and high school kids partying. I’ve gotten used to comics being good rides like Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds or Persepolis, but Burns shows that even founders of the form can falter.