It’s easy to read THE DARJEELING LIMITED as self-indulgent: three wealthy white American men searching for a spiritual experience in a culture with which they make no effort to engage. But I think that self-indulgence is both personal and self-reflective for the three white men who wrote it. The film is self-aware enough to laugh at its protagonists while remaining grounded in their humanity and the humanity of those around them. In that way, it’s a very generous film about trauma, familial hurt, and emotional repression, lesser than TENENBAUMS but meaningful nonetheless.