Asteroid City

Synopsis:  A bunch of students and assorted adults travel to a crater for a Junior Star Gazer convention. Be advised: this is a Wes Anderson movie. (In theaters as of June 2023.)

If you like Wes Anderson movies, you’ll like Asteroid City. If you don’t, you won’t. I confess to being a reluctant fan of the filmmaker. Anderson’s movies look like nothing else on earth. And his scripts are so original, punctuated with cackle-worthy deadpan lines. That’s good. But… he’s so weird. Watching his movies is like dropping into Uncanny Valley. The people in Anderson’s film don’t talk like real people of any culture. It’s like our world was lost, and aliens are constructing behavior and prosody as they think it may have been. Speaking of aliens… an alien makes an appearance in Asteroid City. Why not?

Take note here, movie lover…  the film opens on a soundstage, circa 1955. An announcer (Bryan Cranston) is introducing a play for television, Asteroid City. But what we see onstage morphs into live action, on location in the American desert. But these people are all actors.  

Understand that real life person, actor Jason Schwartzman, is a character in the Asteroid City play-that-looks-like-a-movie as Augie Steenbeck, a war photographer. Who, in turn, is another character: Jonas Hall, the actor who plays character Augie Steenbeck.

I know, it’s like a word problem. Most of the action is in the “Asteroid City” play- that-looks-like-a-movie. You will know you are there, metaphysically speaking, because these shots are in the desert. A desert in Spain that is playing a desert in America.

One more word problem that doesn’t involve math, but ScarJo… Real life person, actor Scarlett Johansson, is a character in the Asteroid City play-that-looks-like-a-movie as Midge Campbell, a movie star. Who, in turn, is another character: Mercedes Ford, the actress who plays character Midge Campbell. I think writers Anderson and Roman Coppola just wanted to make up a lot of ironic-sounding names. Watch for Anderson repertory member, Willem Dafoe as Saltzburg Keitel.

So… Augie drives to Asteroid City with his three darling daughters, Andromeda, Pandora and Cassiopeia (Ella, Gracie & Willan Faris), along with teen son, Woodrow (Jake Ryan). The brainiac son is due in Asteroid City to receive a commendation at the Junior Stargazers convention which is at the site of a meteorite crash. Other aspiring scientists are gathering with their parents at a motel near the site, run by Steve Carrell. I was glad that Bill Murray was unavailable. (For too long W.A. has been making excuses for Murray’s offensive behavior onset.*) Mr. Carrell does a particularly fine job of telling Augie: They’re strange; your children.

Before long, they’re joined by a group of singing cowboys led by Montana (Rupert Friend), an alien, Tilda Swinton as a scientist (she’s bizarre as ever), a field trip led by teacher June (Maya Hawke), a general (Jeffrey Wright), an annoying kid who’s always daring people to do stuff, and a Tom Hanks.

They all get to know each other. The scientist kids, in particular, have a nice time bonding. Augie’s son Woodrow becomes friendly with Midge’s daughter, Dinah (Grace Edwards). Speaking to each other from their respective cabin windows, they trade news of their life stories, revealing scorching little bits of heartbreak. Can a broken heart scorch? If Wes Anderson movie can have an Elizabethan lady appear on a fire escape or a roadrunner bird dance to a western tune, why not?

Asteroid City‘s creator is too clever by half to give us an actual narrative. Or even a meaning. Is there a message about loneliness? A metaphor for quarantine during the pandemic? Maybe it’s just weird. Let’s go with that.

PS. Scarlett Johansson is so good in Asteroid City that she practically floats off the screen. The way she’s filmed evokes photographer Cindy Sherman’s work. Props to DP Robert Yeoman, and Julie Dartnell, head of hair & makeup. 

* In 2022, film production was halted on Being Mortal for investigation of an incident involving a “much younger” female production assistant whom Murray allegedly straddled and kissed on the mouth. Another staffer was present and corroborated the account. The actor’s remark? “I did something funny, and it wasn’t taken that way.”

Murray apparently has a history of onset temper tantrums.  Vanity Fair catalogued a list of allegations: Hollered at Geena Davis onset, and rubbed her with a massage device after she told him ‘no.’… screamed at Richard Dreyfuss and threw an ashtray at him… threw Seth Green in a garbage can…headbutted director McG…threatened to throw producer Laura Ziskin across a parking lot, then broke her sunglasses. Another time he threw her in a lake.   

It all sounds ludicrous and maybe “not a big deal” if it hasn’t happened to you. Which is why, I guess, Wes Anderson reports that he’ll still be working with Murray, saying that the actor has been “a great supporter of me from the very beginning… he’s my daughter’s godfather …he’s the one who splashed the water.” Okay, I can believe that. At least he didn’t throw the baby in the baptismal font.  

Movie Loon’s Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:   A–

Cut to the Chase:   Much better than The French Dispatch. Not as good as The Grand Budapest Hotel. As good as The Royal Tenenbaums? You decide.

Humor Highlight:   I favor Tom Hanks’ line: I like the desert. I like aliens.