project film school

origins : music, memory and responsibility

one thing i am always struggling with is how to control my anger when new movies come out that have taken key material/ideas from movies that i love and that may not be as well known.

the two most recent examples of this are zach braff's proposed remake of susanne bier's experiment with dogme, open hearts and sadly (i just realized this one today) wes anderson's trailer (and i am assuming the film) for the darjeeling limited uses the kink's this time tomorrow, a song that defined phillipe garrel's regular lovers (and was also used in the trailer).

with braff, i think my increasing anger is probably somewhat justified. open hearts was created as a dogme film and the dogme movement was born out a desire to create films that were as anti-hollywood as any film could be and it seems to me that zach braff represents hollywood in a pretty real way.

with anderson however, i am not sure how appropriate my anger actually is. i sat down at my desk this morning and saw that the trailer was out for the darjeeling limited, which excited me, as the film is opening the new york film festival this year. but when the kink’s song started about halfway through the trailer i was immediately enraged. the song to me was regular lovers, it defined the film (and the generation that the film portrayed) in a way, that to me, makes it placement in anderson’s film unacceptable.

as someone who wants to make films though, i know it’s hard to resist the urge to give a shout out to things that have inspired you or moved you in cinema. and perhaps open hearts really moved zach braff and he wants to use his influence to move more people, and likewise perhaps this time tomorrow really is the perfect song for the darjeeling limited….

i have to say though, that i’m doubtful.

music is used so carefully in anderson’s films and is in many ways its own character - so for the key song in the darjeeling limited to be one that was already used in a film and used in such a defining way seems sloppy and irresponsible - especially since regular lovers was released stateside so recently. i feel like anderson should know better, he watches films and i think ignorance was probably not the case here.

although i am sure there are tons of examples of times i have approved of music being recycled and many times i have been unaware of stolen moments in films i love.

what to do then….i don’t know?

i do know that i am much less excited about seeing the darjeeling limited - which is unfortunate, as anderson is a one of the better filmmakers working today.

but you should judge for yourself:

the trailer for the darjeeling limited