Asteroid City

Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”

I didn't enjoy this at first, mostly because the marketing pitched it as a lighthearted comedy with Wes Anderson's usual quirkiness, and that's what I was in the mood to see. It turned out to be a lot deeper, a lot darker, and lot more meaningful that I expected, putting its characters through existential crises and asking us to keep track of them on multiple levels simultaneously. (The movie purports to be a black-and-white TV special that dramatizes the making of a stage play that is performed to the camera in vivid color solely for us, and many of the play's characters temporarily pretend to be someone else for various reasons, and we have to navigate our feelings about them on all of these levels as well as about the real-life celebrities playing them. It's a lot.) The longer that I pondered the movie and its meanings and its mysteries, the more I appreciated it. There's a feast of ideas to be enjoyed here about the meaning of life and the meaning of art, such as a wonderful scene where one actor can no longer tolerate not understanding "the play" and begs the director for clarity. This is the stuff that college theses are made of, in the best sense. Asteroid City also happens to be a beautiful film with Anderson's usual Andersoniness at about an 8.5, and there are indeed plenty of jolts of humor throughout, particularly when characters in Anderson's long tableau shots break through from one segment to another. I recommend this, but be in the right mood for it.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.

− February 2, 2025 • more by Scott • log in or register to reply