This review contains mild spoilers for Asteroid City.
Wes Anderson’s aesthetic has become something of a viral sensation in the last few months. Symmetrical framing, pastel aesthetics and quirky music have become synonymous with the stylised director. Yet Asteroid City proves there’s so much more to Anderson’s filmmaking than pleasing framing. Whilst its mise-en-scene and cinematography are as impeccably produced as expected, the story and meaning behind Asteroid City remains powerful and important, resonating from its 1950s setting to today.
In anticipation of an annual event for “junior stargazers and space cadets”, Asteroid City’s ensemble cast converges at the eponymous desert town, the location being one of the film’s major successes. The area (population 87) is realised beautifully, blending a real desert location with a sense of artifice through the near-garish saturated colour palette and painted horizon. I particularly loved how this near antithesis of practical and artificial was aided by the blend of miniatures and stop motion with real actors and locations, an Anderson staple which enriched the setting. This duality makes Asteroid City a wholly unique and compelling location, one which I loved spending time within even when the plot was at its slowest. Yet the setting’s design is not only aesthetically pleasing, but reinforces the film’s key themes of confusion and existentialism in the face of seismic events. In Asteroid City, it seems there are no easy answers.
Whilst the first act of the story wanders engagingly through the town, the arrival of an alien truly ignites the narrative. Upon experiencing this unexplained phenomenon, the city’s inhabitants enter a state of self-reflection and literal lockdown. The true natures of the characters are explored as they all react differently to the event. The four junior stargazer awardees investigate the situation, searching for the alien’s origin. The children on a school trip panic about the alien’s motive, only to be calmed by a local cowboy. They all search for meaning based on this unusual event, and, ultimately, do not find any. What exactly the extraterrestrial’s plan was is never explained. The alien returns, gives the asteroid back, and leaves. So… now what?
This is where Asteroid City becomes most relatable. In recent years, the world has experienced a multitude of mass existential events. From the atomic bombs seen in the film, to climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic – all leaving us with a sense of profound confusion and apprehension. Global moments on this scale are difficult to process and fully comprehend. While Asteroid City’s alien is surely not a direct metaphor for global events, its arrival brings with it those same emotions and conditions to the inhabitants of the town (note Anderson’s inclusion of ‘lockdown’ periods). They desperately search for the meaning of the events - what the alien is trying to say, its origins, its motives - but fail. Instead, the members of the town find meaning in each other. Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a recently bereaved war photographer, and Midge Campbell (Scarlet Johansson), a disconnected movie star, find solace in each other’s company to reconcile their emotions (or lack thereof). Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and Dinah (Grace Edwards) do the same, the teenagers finally finding others on their social and intellectual level. The children at the school witness the genesis of a new musical talent, and their teacher falls for a cowboy. Mass events of change – be them aliens or a pandemic – bring people together, allowing us to find new comfort and meaning in each other. In spite of the film’s stilted dialogue and apparent lack of emotion, this notion is incredibly human, and something which cannot be captured in trends which mimic Anderson’s style.
Whilst I do adore the central metaphor, I wouldn't say Asteroid City’s execution is flawless. It is a funny film (my personal highlight being the Where’s Wally?-esque spy character), but it doesn’t come close to the comedic and aesthetic heights of some of Anderson’s other works, particularly The Grand Budapest Hotel. I found the black and white framing device of the creation of a play to be somewhat superfluous. Whilst I enjoyed the aesthetic and some of the sequences, they felt more like ticking a Wes Anderson trope off, rather than an element which was necessary to tell the story. This lack of efficiency was also present in the ensemble cast, with some characters providing little to the overall narrative, such as Steenbeck’s three daughters and father-in-law. However, this did not majorly detract from the experience. It is a very ‘Wes Anderson’ film, and that is not a bad thing.
Asteroid City is a brilliantly constructed and genuinely heartfelt film, despite its stilted dialogue and usual Wes Anderson touches. Its central metaphor is deeply relevant in our increasingly cynical and confused times, with these central themes being explored in a light-hearted, yet still impactful way. But most importantly, I really enjoyed the time I spent in the titular town, and I hope to catch the freight-train to visit Asteroid City again sometime soon.
