Wes Anderson is a confident director.
While I’ve become more a fan of his work post-Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson has always maintained a definitive and vibrant style that feels very-much his. His command over his production style, acting style, and cinematography is astounding, and he’s one of a handful of filmmakers who’s immediately identifiable by only one scene. Asteroid City is no exception, it’s a brilliant, visually arresting, stunning film. But there’s an intriguing fear meddling throughout the film that’s difficult to shake. Beneath the humor and quirks of the production, there’s a creeping dread in Asteroid City that elevates the film from great to compelling.
Taking place in 1955, the film, which is a play within the film, follows Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) and his family as they attend the Junior Stargazers Convention in Asteroid City, three weeks after Augie’s wife’s death. When an alien visits the city, the family is quarantined in Asteroid City with the rest of the city’s residents, as everyone plots and guesses what happens next. Wes Anderson made Asteroid City during the COVID pandemic, and it clearly shows as the quarantine, anti-Asian racism, and the existential dread act as a perfect parallel to America’s COVID response. Having the film set in the 1950’s and making numerous references to nuclear missiles further amplified the timelessness of American existential dread. The true brilliance of the Asteroid City comes from how Wes Anderson addresses the generational responses to the alien visit and, by extension, existential uncertainty.
Asteroid City breaks down the characters based on their generations, namely the Junior Stargazers and their parents (along with the government officials in the program). By extension, Wes Anderson breaks down their responses to the quarantine and alien visitation. The stargazers focus heavily on the bigger implications of the alien visit, developing gadgets and strategies to communicate with the alien, and spread the word of its existence. It’s fun, often funny, and while you can feel the Stargazers weight (thanks heavily to Jake Ryan’s performance as Woodrow Steenbeck), there’s a general excitement to their challenge. However, the parents and government officials’ reactions are significantly more harrowing, as you can feel how hopelessly unprepared they are to the vast changes the alien’s existence brings. They try to forge new relationships, grow, and bestow wisdom, but they all recognize that their skills just don’t help, and it’s intimidating. Amongst an all-star cast of heavy hitters, including Tom Hanks, Scarlet Johansson, Tilda Swinton, and Jeffrey Wright giving standout hits, Jason Schwartzman is incredible. You feel how impotent he is trying to make sense of the world he’s now in, having already lost his wife and clearly scarred by his time as a war photographer, Schwartzman gives a brilliantly laired performance of a man who hates that all he can do now is photograph the events around him. The gloom enhances the humor, Asteroid City is funny, but you can tell Wes Anderson is laughing at his own inability to handle the confusion of the world around him. It’s easy to relate.
Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s most timeless film. Granted, the play within a play format helps, but moreover Asteroid City is based around handling trauma and confusion, and how to manage living life when you’re grossly underprepared to handle it. Of all of Wes Anderson’s films, Asteroid City is his most relatable and accessible. While less experienced viewers may feel initially intimidated by the play-within-a-play format, the themes of managing uncertainty and existential dread will hook any audience. Take the trip to Asteroid City, you won’t be disappointed.
Asteroid City is now playing in theaters.
