Asteroid City

Movie Name: Asteroid City
Year of Release: 2023
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Bryan Cranston, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Hong Chau, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Jeff Goldblum, Sophia Lillis, Adrien Brody, Bob Balaban, Fisher Stevens, Rita Wilson, Zoe Bernard, Sebastian Stephens, Steve Park
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review

After the well received "French Dispatch", which took some time to the screens due to Covid 19, writer/director Wes Anderson quick set in motion his next feature. The narrative focuses on the staging of a play by a famed playwright by the name of Conrad Earp. In the play, a youth astronomy convention is taking place in a fictional desert town named Asteroid City. One of the central characters in the play is war journalist Augie Steenbeck, who arrives with his 4 children in tow, including his teenage son Woodrow. Another person in town is Midge Campbell, a famous actress, who is also traveling with her teenage daughter Dinah (both Woodrow and Dinah are expected to be honored at the convention). A variety of other characters make their way into town, due to the convention, with all of them staying in a local motel. The locale is the target of an actual alien visit, upon which everyone in town is placed under strict quarantine. The events from Asteroid City become national news. In the interim the process of creating the play takes on different journeys, as Conrad becomes romantically involved with his lead actor. Conrad writes the play with the help from a local acting school and recruits cast members from it.

As the years have gone by, and Wes Anderson has further cemented his universe, it's interesting to witness the direction which some of his features have taken. Comparing his earlier endeavors such as "The Royal Tenenbaums" or even "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", with "Asteroid City" while still bearing similar DNAs, they also feel like distant relatives. One of the biggest issues with "Asteroid City" is the fact that while impeccably rendered and put together, it's a feature that is easier to admire than to love. Easier to admire in the sense that this film is a stylized endeavor, almost like a piece of performance art, where every little aspect of the film and what's taking place feels timed to a rhythm that the author has established. Nothing is left to casual or unexpected. And this in itself does make the film something to admire, in the sense that the universe this author creates is very much his own, he has a point of view that he ferociously pursues, illustrates and controls. As an audience member, this proposition can take many directions, in the sense that a viewer can embark on this journey, or simply feel distracted by what's taking place without realizing its purpose, since it's difficult to create an emotional connection with the feature itself. These characters, and there's a vast array of them, feel very much like puppets being told what to do and what to recite by their creator, with some actors being more successful at embodying the character, versus others who almost become decals of the Wes Anderson style (delivery itself). There is humor, as it's usual in Wes Anderson's films, but unlike "The Grand Budapest Hotel", where there was a formidable energy afloat, on par with a brilliant central performance from Ralph Fiennes, this film in particular becomes trapped of the narrative devices the director has set in motion. The staging of the play, of which its creation is also staged/illustrated, doesn't entirely work, and not because of the difference in styling, but because of the artificiality of it all. And in a way, that's probably one of the things Wes Anderson aims to create or illustrate: a level of artifice, tied with a certain period piece, which is all part of his aesthetic and point of view. Many authors bask in the universe they create, for instance Woody Allen who during the late 70s, all of the 80s and most of the 90s, dabbled in his own universe without compromising or deviating from his point of view or type of narratives he illustrated. With "Asteroid City" it feels like Wes Anderson created this perfectly manicured microcosms, but one that leaves no room for actual characters to exist. The phenomenal cast bring these puppets to life, but what's more memorable about this film is the whole construct that the production team puts together. Robert Yeoman's cinematography, Alexandre Desplat's score, Milena Canonero's costume design and Adam Stockhausen's production design. It's an interesting feature and it's watchable one for sure, but it isn't nearly as satisfying as prior features from this director.