Asteroid City

Grade: A

For 22 years, I’ve held out hope that writer/director Wes Anderson would arrive back at the delight of his early films like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and especially The Royal Tenenbaums, his best – or maybe not anymore. After drifting out and out into the artistic sea, he has triumphantly returned with Asteroid City. His movies were getting increasingly more annoying, pretentious, and gimmicky, with large star-studded casts playing eternally deadpan characters. Asteroid City is unmistakably a Wes Anderson film, but for the first time in decades, his signature style feels like a springboard rather than a crutch.

He utilizes several of the same actors in his films. At this point, I’m always the most interested to see how those who aren’t regulars of his do at adapting to the Wes Anderson vibe. In this movie, Tom Hanks is one of the MVPs, fitting right in. This is one of his trademark heavily populated casts. When looking at the list afterwards, I had to play the “Do I Remember Seeing Them” game. Adrien Brody has had a pretty stinky streak as of late, with Ghosted, Blonde, and See How They Run, so it’s nice to see him in a project I like. Jason Schwartzman has spent more than half his life as an Anderson staple, and it’s enjoyable to see his characters grow up as he ages. We also have (Are you ready? Am I ready?) Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, and I think we can agree that Jeff Goldblum is unrecognizable in his role.

It’s about a documentary about the writing and production of a play, with the main body of the movie being the play within the documentary of the movie. A quirk of Anderson’s writing is repeated words in the same sentence, with lines like “first I’m going to make my speech first.” The film provides us with unusual opportunities to see some people playing not only the characters, but the actors as them. And we get one touching scene that we don’t actually SEE (because it was cut from the play), but receive via the performers remembering and reciting the dialogue.

One of the many pleasures of Asteroid City is how it can find laughter in sneaky, unexpected ways. It is filmed beautifully, in multiple methods, and due to the layered plot, it’s able to be appreciated on various levels. The score, soundtrack, and sound effects are always catchy, interesting, and there to draw us in. Anderson reminds us that he is a master at creating a voluminous specific world, and in the case of Asteroid City, I didn’t want it to end. It’s impossible to get everything the first time you see it; more will emerge with each subsequent viewing. I didn’t understand all of it, but as a character says, “that’s ok. Just keep telling the story.”

Grade: A