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It seems that no matter which Wes Anderson movie one watches, there seems to be a perfect amount of theme and drama, and to their personal level of enjoyment, it all comes down to how much drama schtick one can tolerate which is different for each individual. With a nuanced aesthetic, Anderson’s 2023 movie ‘Asteroid City’ brings forth excessive drama poems and self-praise, which I gained a lot of enjoyment from. I am not very sure what the description of having a lot of dislike and hostility towards a filmmaker is, but I think it highlights my connection to Wes Anderson. Some parts of his works appeal to me while other pieces drive me away. I remember enjoying Asteroid City immensely pleasant, it gave me a good laugh and made me fond of it. In my eyes, it is one of “the good ones”.
Photographer and mourning dad Augie Steenbeck, played by Jason Schwartzman, takes his four kids to the ghost town in Asteroid City so that the eldest kid can participate in a science fair stargazing event. During the erect alien tourist visiting the science fair, the meteor that the town is named after gets stolen. It forces every witness including Augie, who had his children at the fair, to confront the uncertainty of the universe.
I must clarify that the above narrative hardly encapsulates the overall film. The overall premise is masked by a stage play, where the actor Jones Hall, played by Schwartzman, Augie with the writer and Edward Norton and Adrien Brody acting as the director. Jones asks if he gets the play and for some reason, it is very difficult to understand what purpose the character serves when he burns his hand out of impulse at the final third. The reason the director does not have an answer is simple: Nobody does. The short answer is that this is Asteroid City: everything is senseless and all there is left to do is accept it and make peace.
Like most of Anderson’s pictures, the film unravels through a collection of vignettes: the cast of world-class award-winning actors is surely put to good use, as these short segments are skillfully crafted and intentionally fake. Schwartzman is great here, as always with Anderson, and so is Scarlett Johanssen’s portrayal of in-character movie actress Midge Campbell. The presentation is greatly aided by Tom Hanks playing Augie’s disgruntled father-in-law who somewhat strays from the usual roles he’s been a part of. He is effective, but strangely out of context because of the type of films he typically features in. Other cast members include Matt Dillon, Steve Carell, Jeffrey Wright, Willem Dafoe, Maya Hawke, Margo Robbie, and (briefly) Jeff Goldblum.
Most of the works of Wes Anderson over the years have had a thick layer of distant wit on them. While this is certainly present here, it is also more daring due to additional doses of warmth and empathy. Compared to, say, Anderson’s French Dispatch (2021), this looks and feels much more straightforward and fully realized. It’s awfully formal, to be sure the camera virtually operates at perpendicular angle shifts the entire time and captures everything, but it feels more than just a technical trip. There is romance here. There is joy. There is great, frightened confusion. I have mentioned it before, and I will say it once more this is one of the good ones.
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