Asteroid City (2023)
Wes Anderson is a formula unto himself, with his highly stylized color saturation, tableaux vivants, rat-a-tat pacing, and deadpan delivery. There are characters stepping into frame, talking straight at each other and stepping out of frame. Many of the characters are outcasts because they’re highly gifted, at least one character writes plays, and stories are often centered around these highly gifted people finding their niche, maybe in the form of a play and audience applause.
In Asteroid City Anderson takes all of those signature touches and disassembles them piece by piece. There are a few spoilers ahead, so if anyone reading this still hasn’t seen it and wants to, well…
I got major Six Characters In Search of An Author vibes from Asteroid City with a dash of Our Town, which is probably why I didn’t hate the movie like some reviewers. Not that it’s bad to dislike something, but there were certain things that just stuck out to me; the homage Asteroid City pays these classic plays can’t be unseen, not to mention they help the film make more sense.
The plot, or what’s there of it, centers around war photographer Augie Steenbeck, who’s forced to stop in the tiny desert town of Asteroid City, population eighty-seven, when his car breaks down. Conveniently enough, Augie’s son, Woodrow has a Junior Stargazers convention in Asteroid City, where he’ll be competing for a five-thousand dollar prize.
Augie’s wife died of cancer three weeks previously and he’s carrying her ashes in a Tupperware container to his father-in-law’s house, where he plans on staying with his kids for a while. Problem is, he hasn’t told the kids yet. They’re a wee bit distracted by all the colorful characters who appear in Asteroid City, among them, actress Midge Campbell and her daughter, Dinah. Midge and Augie converse between their two cottages; specifically, the bathrooms, because Augie uses his as a dark room and Midge likes hanging out in her bathroom because reasons.
Since Augie and the kids are completely stuck, Grandpa, also known as Stanley, leaves a golf game to come get them, and he finds Augie’s triplet daughters burying the Tupperware next to the communal bathroom.
Asteroid City’s star attraction is a giant crater made by an asteroid, natch, and this is where all the festivities take place. When (spoiler alert) an alien appears and makes off with the asteroid fragment on display, everyone is shocked and awed. Naturally, Augie pulls out his camera and snaps a photo.
The alien, who is weirdly cute, doesn’t do or say anything but hold the asteroid and mug for Augie’s camera before popping back up into a waiting flying saucer. He or she is clearly no threat, but Asteroid City is put under quarantine.
Yep, these characters are trapped. They can’t move in or out of their environment. They have to take what comes. Any changes that happen are confined to that environment and may or may not be permanent. The characters have absolutely no control over what happens. In the meantime, they talk to each other and directly to the audience.
Or do they? Asteroid City is a film within a film, or more accurately, a play within a play. The characters might seem confined, but then we see Conrad Earp, the playwright, conferring with his secret muse (read: lover), who will go on to play Augie. It’s all about bringing the play to life and how nebulous the characters can be. The actress playing Midge Campbell wonders as she’s in character if she’s playing the character right. Augie walks off set and talks to the director about his next line that he has to deliver in six and a half minutes, and then he talks to the woman who would have played his wife while she’s on a break from acting in the play at the theater next door. We don’t ever get too deep into anything because everything is still in process.
Is anyone playing their character right? Who really knows. The movie leaves that up to us to decide, with an ending as wide open as the desert sky over Asteroid City. The key thing to remember is, you can’t wake up until you fall asleep. What that means is up to the viewer.
I thought the casting of Asteroid City was fantastic; Tilda Swinton as Dr. Hickenlooper in particular never ceases to amaze me—the woman is a chameleon. All of these actors seemed to be treading on familiar territory, so every performance is strong. And no, I’m not going to tell who plays the alien. He has one line. It’s good.
The only real beef I had with this movie is that it segments each act off with intertitles. I get what Anderson was going for, but it breaks the immersion. Good stories allow us to disappear into them and in that case we don’t like to be reminded of the present day.
That aside, I’m looking forward to seeing Asteroid City again. It may just end up being my favorite Wes Anderson movie.
Asteroid City is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: A-
Principal Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Grace Edwards, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Ethan Josh Lee, Sophia Lillis, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margo Robbie, Jake Ryan, Tony Revolori, Jeff Goldblum
Directed by Wes Anderson.
Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola.