Hi again

Yesterday we had 2 Darjeeling reviews and today we have 3 more, although I’ll be focusing more on Hotel Chevalier.

Lets begin with Screen Daily:

Hotel Chevalier, the short film which acts as an independent prologue to the main feature and precedes its action chronologically, is set in a Paris hotel room where Jack receives a surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend (played by a crop-haired Natalie Portman) who is mentioned but never seen in Darjeeling. It’s an enjoyably oddball accompaniment to an enoyably oddball film.

Wow, she’s not in Darjeeling at all? Do I remove the film from her filmography or wait to see if she appears in a deleted scene on the DVD…hmmm…

Next up is Premiere:

The film was preceded here by Hotel Chevalier, a 13-minute Anderson-directed starring Schwartzman (again as Jack Whitman) and (a naked) Natalie Portman as his ex-girlfriend, set entirely in a Paris hotel room. It proved to be a tasty appetiser to the main feature and was, in some ways, more satisfying. Made in 2005 and referred to onscreen as “Part 1 of The Darjeeling Limited”, the short won’t play with the film on its theatrical release, but, according to Anderson, will be available online, at festivals and on DVD.

A naked Natalie Portman? That Darjeeling DVD just sold a million extra copies.

Those two reviews were mixed positive but the Hollywood Reporter really didn’t enjoy Wes’ vibe:

The pretensions surrounding this production begin with a 13-minute short film titled “Hotel Chavalier” that was screened ahead of the main feature at the Venice International Film Festival. It will be shown at other festivals and on the Internet, and be included on the eventual DVD, but it will not play in theaters when the picture is released.

Set in a hotel in Paris, the short film shows a brief encounter between the youngest brother, Jack (Schwartzman) and his on-and-off girlfriend (Natalie Portman). It has no significance though except as a platform for the great 1960s anthem “Where Do You Go to My Lovely?” by Peter Sarstedt.

That’s it for now.