Asteroid City is colorfully confusing as the plot twists and pivots keep interrupting the story making it hard to follow, Writer/Director Wes Anderson loads the film with some of the usual suspects we’ve seen in his films before. (The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, Rushmore) They huge cast includes Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Hong Chau, Liev Schreiber, Tilda Swinton and Maya Hawke. But now he’s added even more A-Listers, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Hope Davis, Margot Robbie, as well as Bryan Cranston. Shot in Spain with this mega list of mega stars, it’s hard to believe that the budget on this film was a mere $9 million. Seems these actors were just happy to work with the director.
Anderson has created an imaginative story within a story with each character having their own reason for ending up quarantined in the desert. It’s all because an alien came down to Earth as this collection of people were gathering for the Junior Star Gazer/Space Cadet Convention. It was organized to bring students and parents from across the country together for fellowship and scholarly competition on Asteroid Day. But once the Government learns of the alien, the entire city is put on lockdown.
As the layers peel back we slowly learn in bits and pieces about this eclectic group of people from all walks of life who are isolated together.It’s somewhat frustrating because you never quite get anyone’s complete story. Anderson reveals character traits and family or career backstory a little at a time.
The conceit of the script is a play based on the events that took place in Asteroid City in the 1950’s with Bryan Cranston as the narrator of the of the stage play being written by Edward Norton. It’s about space fanatics who were dreaming about becoming explorers set against a background of atomic testing that was going on in the desert near where the convention was to take place.
Scenes keep bouncing back and forth between the writer (Edward Norton) of the stage play and the narrator (Bryan Cranston) both in Black and White. Then to the rich, highly saturated, pastel desert palette that is Anderson’s signature.
The alien who briefly visits the site neither appears very intimidating, nor overly friendly. Although the alien is the reason for these people are being quarantined together, Anderson obviously didn’t spend a lot of money creating the image of his alien. For a character that is so vital to the storyline, Anderson made him pretty simple and almost cheesy looking.
As expected, Anderson uses his unique signature writing style. The characters’ faces are fairly emotionless. Their lines are spoken with Anderson’s stylistic deadpan speech pattern. There are actually plenty of laugh lines, but they’re so underplayed, it takes a moment for them to register because the humor doesn’t track with the faces or how the lines are delivered.
What makes this film most interesting is the way Anderson directs movement of the camera. Cinematographer and long-time collaborator, Robert Yeoman tracks what looks like adjacent horizontal sets left a step at a time, or right in the same way. It’s like watching teammates anticipate each other’s moves on the field as they move the camera seamlessly together from set to set in a line picking up characters and their stories to keep it moving.
As the camera moves from one unfinished scene to the next one, Anderson gets a little more of the story in. At times the plot twists and pivots in ways that become a bit annoying while abruptly changing. It’s somewhat intriguing but also a little disjointed and frustrating. Still it’s fun to see actors in roles you would not expect them to play. Anderson’s characters appear serious, but clearly, they are not designed to take themselves too seriously.
The most well-defined of the characters is Augie Steenbeck/Jones Hall (Jason Schwartzman). He is the father of four kids and has recently become a widower. His father-in-law, Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks) was asked to come help Augie and the kids when their car broke down. That’s when you find out what’s really going on with this family.
Jeffrey Wright playing General Gibson excellently delivering a very long monologue in one take. Scarlett Johansson plays Midge Campbell, an actress who ends up delivering pointed halting dialogue while awkwardly reclining in a bathtub.
Then there’s Anderson’s love for Looney Tunes cartoons which becomes evident with the many appearances of an animated Road Runner coming in and out of the frame for comic relief.
All in the jam-packed cast get a spotlight to use their talents for these quirky characters. Anderson’s rambling film is everything from silly and absurd, mildly farcical, and ludicrous. But it’s also uniquely imaginative and fun!
Focus Features 1 hour 45 minutes PG-13
