Last week, I saw Sean, the co-founder of Static Live Magazine, at Chases on the Beach, and he said to me, “I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?” Of course, I said, “The good news.” “I want you to review Wes Anderson’s new film, Asteroid City.” I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear that. The movie is so good, and so dense, that we went to see it two days in a row, the two days prior. So that was the good news: I got a chance to review this fine, freakishly weird film. “So, Sean, what’s the bad news?” “You only get 600 words to do the review.” So that’s the dilemma. Review one of the best and most thematically complex films of the year, in 600 words, 155 of which I just wasted telling you that story. It’s a play-within-a-play movie. The within a play being the bulk, important part of the piece. It’s contained within a television show in the ’50s. The TV show is introduced by an unnamed host (Bryan Cranston), explaining that we’re about to get to see the play Asteroid City performed in the comfort of your homes on the new entertainment medium of television. Asteroid City, the play, is about the lives of the characters in it, and is in Wes Anderson’s signature popping bright colors. The scenes of the behind the scenes, the making of Asteroid City, the television show, are in black and white. Complicated, right? Well let’s add some bulk to that. The ensemble cast is huge and fabulous. It includes, to name a few Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Steve Carrell, Matt Dillon, Willem Defoe, Margot Robbie, and Jeff Goldblum. The plot…oh God, this plot. Well let’s just talk about the setting first. That’s easier. The setting of the television show is unclear, perhaps, given it takes place in the ’50s, New York City. However the nested piece, the play Asteroid City, takes place in the west somewhere, in the desert, in the fictionalized town Asteroid City over a few days in September 1955. A one-road town, with a gas station attended by Mechanic (Matt Dillon), a diner with three employees, a motel with a Manager (Steve Carell) and a Handyman, and a crater where an asteroid fell. Hence the name of the town. A pair of unrelated events transpire periodically that help reveal where the fictionalized town is: Atomic bombs are tested in the not-too-distance; and gangsters are pursued down the Asteroid City Street, one way or another, by law enforcement, and law enforcement by gangsters. Asteroid City’s motel is full to capacity with the families of the finalists of the Junior Stargazers’ Astronomy Convention. As with many of Wes Anderson’s films, children play a big part. The main characters are photojournalist Augie Steenback & his brainiac son Woodrow (Jason Schwartzman & Jake Ryan), and Marilyn Monroe-like Midge Campbell & her genius daughter Dinah (Scarlett Johansson & Grace Edwards). Tilda Swinton is Dr. Hickenlooper, a local scientist; Willem Dafoe is Saltzburg Kettle, who is in the TV part of the film, and plays a Elia Kazan-ish Method Acting teacher; and I would be remiss not to mention Jeff Goldblum as The Alien. Asteroid City is hilarious in a Wes Anderson, not Dumb and Dumber, way. And complex in a Wes Anderson, not Tenet, way. And joyful in a Wes Anderson, not It’s a Wonderful Life, way. To say any more would be to say too little, To say any less would be to say too much. “And that’s all I have to say about that.” Except, when you see it, tell me: “Why does Augie burn his hand on the Quicky-Griddle?” Asteroid City is still in theaters as of this writing, albeit not many, and can be rented for top dollar on Amazon Prime.
* Paul is the host for The Hub on Canal’s monthly Art in the Form of Film series. The Hub on Canal is a non-profit art gallery/collective in New Smyrna Beach FL. His shows are sponsored by the New Smyrna Beach restaurant, Chases on the Beach.
