Wes Anderson

The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Wes’s most earnest depiction of death and grief. Centred on three brothers, who meet a year after their father’s death to travel around India, ostensibly to visit their awol mother, but more urgently to renew their ties.

It is the tale of two 12-year-olds who fall in love and run away together. He’s Sam (Jared Gilman), an orphaned cub scout who wears chunky glasses. She’s Suzy (Kara Hayward), a troubled child with a love of pop music and kittens. Sad adults pepper the backdrop, such as Suzy’s parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) and a melancholic police captain (Bruce Willis). The film was inspired by Waris Hussein’s 1971 film, Melody, about two primary school kids who escape from their school in Lambeth, London, in order to marry.

The red beanies, silvery blue wetsuits, custom Adidas trainers, and The Belafonte (a boat whose interior was built from scratch) make this the trademark aesthetic which even casual Wes fans recognise. In some ways it is an albatross.

Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe and Waris Ahluwalia.

nspired by the classic marine-life documentaries by French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, this was Wes’s most overtly autobiographical work in that the character of Zissou

From New York he sailed off to Cinecittà Studios in Rome to make The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), the first instance of what would become a personal trend of choosing locations that enabled him to travel abroad.

It is the first of three films which use a book as a framing device for the story.

Anderson’s unglued characters tend not to be unknown citizens.

Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Robert Musgrave

Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Ben Stiller and Gene Hackman.