Review of Asteroid City (2023) by Markhreviews — 13 Jul 2023

Wes Anderson is back. And his latest offering may well be his most accessible and emotionally rewarding film to date.

A lot of Anderson’s cinematic flourishes are back as well: a chapter structure (including an “optional intermission”), a focus on dysfunctional families, quirky costumes, elegantly symmetrical camera work and a washed-out color palette.

It’s 1955. Five child scientists and their families have gathered in Asteroid City, somewhere in the desert of the American Southwest, for a convention of the Junior Star Gazers/Space Cadets, where they will receive awards for their recent inventions. When an alien arrives and steals the artifact that gave this town its name, everyone is placed in quarantine. This provides plenty of time for snappy dialogue and wry observations.

The film opens with a severe-looking, black-and-white Bryan Cranston introducing a stage play to be performed on TV (think “Playhouse 90”). However, instead of showing a stage, props and backdrops, the performance is a conventional film. So we have a film within a play within a TV show. After that, things get complicated.

As with most Anderson projects, A-list stars abound. In addition to Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Jeff Goldblum, Steve Carell, Adrien Brody, Margot Robbie, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton, Hope Davis, Matt Dillon, Rupert Friend, Willem Dafoe and others have minor roles. Jason Schwartzman, as a warzone photographer who hasn’t had the courage to tell his four kids their mother has died, and Scarlett Johansson, as an alcoholic suicidal actress, do most of the heavy lifting.

The dialogue in “Asteroid City” is as clever, sardonic and densely packed as the conversations in all the other good Anderson movies. But in his previous films, dialogue has often teetered on the edge of snarky condescension. Here, the observations are just as quick, but they contain a vulnerable honesty that make the characters appealingly human. For example, Tom Hanks (perhaps the emotional center of the film) gives son-in-law Jason Schwartzman the following heartfelt advice: “In my loneliness… I’ve learned… to give complete and unquestioning faith to the people I love.” In a different scene, when meeting Scarlett Johansson’s character, Jason Schwartzman explains, “I’m a widower, but don’t tell my kids.” Later, as Schwartzman breaks the news to his children, he consoles his son Woodrow by saying, “Let’s say she’s in heaven, which doesn’t exist for me, but you’re Episcopalian.”.

“Asteroid City” is laugh-out-loud funny, quirky and visually spectacular. It also may tug at a few heart strings you didn’t know you had.