‘Asteroid City’ could make an impact on you

Wes Anderson is back with a new film, which might be the most Wes Anderson film he’s made to date. And for me, that’s a compliment.

From a screenplay by Anderson and story by him and Roman Coppola, Wes Anderson directs “Asteroid City” in his usual quirky deadpan manner.

Following a writer on his world-famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever.

Trailer courtesy of Focus Features

The film stars a bevy of young up-and-coming stars as well as Anderson’s regular collaborators like Jason Schwartzman, Jeff Goldblum and Edward Norton.

The film is beautiful to look at. I think if there’s one thing you know about a Wes Anderson film, it’s his symmetrical shot choices and increasingly fantastic colors in each subsequent film. Every frame of the film could be admired as its own piece of artwork.

I was thrilled to see Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Sophia Lillis, Adrien Brody and Maya Hawke of “Stranger Things” fame and daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.

I’ve been a fan of Anderson since seeing “Bottle Rocket” and “Rushmore” while in high school, and I’m impressed with his ability to maintain his unique style under the watchful eye of the Hollywood system.

For almost 30 years audiences have been treated to his characters’ deadpan line delivery and spouting out long diatribes followed by short quippy responses. We’ve also seen him dabble with stop-motion animation, a favorite style of mine, with “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Isle of Dogs".

When I say this is his most Wes Anderson like film, I mean we get all the tropes he’s been able to evolve and perfect since the 90’s.

The film starts in the "real world", a black and white in a 1950’s TV studio with Bryan Cranston standing on stage. He says we’re about to watch a play called Asteroid City. 

Then, we're in a colorful desert with, beautifully done miniatures and digital effects blending with a town that consists of a car shop, gas station, diner, and. military research facility next to the crater made by an asteroid.

War photographer, Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), arrives with his teenage son and three young daughters stuffed in their car with all their belongings.

His genius son, Woodrow (Jake Ryan), is part of the Junior Stargazers. The kids are participating in an awards ceremony in the crater.

Amongst the oddball group is famous actress, Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), whose daughter, Dinah (Grace Edwards), is a genius too. The plot involves the flirtatious encounters between Midge and Augie and Dinah and Woodrow during a quarantine resulting from an alien encounter.

This alien is a stop-motion creature, and the design is great, scaly black and slender, tall with claws on its feet and hands. It might creep some folks out. Although so much of the film is dry humor, it could make you laugh from the absurdity.

Augie snapped a photo of the alien which ends up being leaked, and the city becomes a destination for curious folks. 

The theme seems to be about expectations and how life just happens, and your world view will change over time regardless of what you do. As an example, Midge states she loves playing drug addicted and abused alcoholic women that would likely end up overdosing in a tub. She says that’s what might happen to her.

The quarantine ends.  Dinah and Woodrow end up together and it’s implied that Augie and Midge will go on to be something more than a fling. We learn in the “real world” that Norton’s writer character has died. The film ends with Augie and family driving into the horizon on the lonely desert highway.

For me, the film was less accessible than Anderson’s other work. The average person might not enjoy his slower paced blunt deadpan humor. I can’t say it’s his best film, but it might be his best-looking film since “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. I look forward to seeing what he does next and hope he reigns in the story a bit to be slightly more concise.

Some highlights for me:

• Tom Hanks gives a fun performance as Augie’s wealthy father-in-law.
• Willem Dafoe plays an eccentric acting teacher in a few small scenes, and you can’t keep your eyes off him.
• Steve Carrell is excellent as he plays a financially dubious motel manager selling real estate from a vending machine.
• And let’s not forget everyone’s favorite oddball actor, Jeff Goldblum, who plays the alien in two small scenes.

The film had an impact on me as does every Wes Anderson film. Artistically rich and filled with existential questions which can be said about his previous work.

I say give it shot. It might not be out of this world, but it’s filled with classic movie magic.