Wes Anderson’s latest is a multi-layered delight
I’d like to kick off this review with a question: what makes a Wes Anderson film the “most” Wes Anderson? Perhaps, objectively speaking, any Wes Anderson film, upon its release, is the “most” Wes Anderson, since that’s the project he’s put his latest ideas, artistry, and effort into. The unfairly subjective angle of this ranking, however, would require prioritizing Wes Anderson’s trademarks: the color palette, the quirkiness, the unique characters, and the cast size. Asteroid City, Anderson’s eleventh feature film as director, is, without a doubt, the “most”…. nah, I’m just kidding. Asteroid City represents a maturation in many respects, utilizing a multi-layered framing device to tell an oddball story about artistry, but with an emotional underbelly.
Attempting to fully capture the framework in which Asteroid City unfolds would be a futile endeavor. Dumbing it down to a degree that doesn’t do justice to the sophisticated script by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Asteroid City is the name of a fictional famous stage play about a man and his children visiting a small desert town circa 1955 for a Junior Stargazers event, which, in turn, was produced into a televised play, which is then presented to us as an adapted color film. It’ll take multiple viewings to map out the exact timeline and layers. What’s important to know is that this framing device works. It works very well. At first, jumping in and out of the “movie” seems to slow and distract the viewing experience. By the end, however, the creative value of each segment is more clearly understood, and each becomes integral to the film’s emotional depth.
A few hundred extra words would be needed to highlight all the notable actors appearing in Asteroid City. It’s an impressive list even by Wes Anderson standards,and includesTom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Matt Dillon, and Steve Carell. If two lead actors were to be singled out from this long and monumentally talented cast, Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson would be the ones. As an actor portraying a soul-searching widowed father of four, Schwartzman gives one of his most emotionally nuanced performances. And as an actress portraying a troubled but adored famous actress, Johansson is marvelous. Actors in Anderson’s films often get lost in the cast list and so miss out on year-end awards, but both these stars deserve supporting nominations for their comical but deeply heartfelt (and complex) standout work.
Wes Anderson’s writing (with long time collaborator and friend Roman Coppola) and production are impressive as usual. The soft oranges and turquoises set up a beautiful southwestern desert palette. The set designs manage to look rusty and used, colorful and vibrant, and stage-prop-esque all at once. Every frame looks painstakingly and lovingly curated. The attention to detail, and how those details can evoke a feeling, is exactly the type of artistry that uninspiring AI trends can never replicate.
Anderson’s films can come off as pretentious and overwritten, and, let’s face it: sometimes they are. Asteroid City accounts for this critique with inward looking analysis, exploring character motivations and quirks with focused curiosity, and commenting on manifestations of “art imitating life” in a manner not seen in Anderson’s previous films. A few scenes in Asteroid City rank as his very best, including an unexpected two-hander in the final act. The film also features a wide range of character perspectives – wider than in his previous ten feature films. The interweaving storylines and perspectives come from children, teens, parents, adults in a multitude of professions, as well as a grandparent (Tom Hanks). Despite the complex artificial framework (stage play within a movie within a movie), the characters are still fully formed, and so the story’s sense of humanity is effectively diverse. Anderson’s deft handling of such a complex and diverse film enables Asteroid City to be comical, awe-inspiring, beautifully melancholic, and memorable.
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Asteroid City opens in Bay Area theaters today.
