Wes Anderson is one of those filmmakers who has crafted his own niche over the years. A bit like Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo Del Toro, you just know a Wes Anderson film when you see and hear it from a distance. The music is folky and rhythmic, the camera angles panning from left to right almost like a storybook and the sets all look real and practical, further emphasising the storybook aesthetic. From Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Life Aquatic, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel, the acclaimed filmmaker has dabbled in many different genres, from comedy to adventure to drama and he’s even made a few stop-motion animated films too. His latest film Asteroid City, is a 1950s set Americana film all set and based around the Space Race. He’s got the opportunity to do a science fiction film, but does he, and does he succeed?
Asteroid City is not entirely a science fiction film. It has a few elements associated with the genre, and the crux of the story is a “before” and “after” of an incident that happens within the town. In typical Anderson fashion the story isn’t as straightforward as that. We have a narrator, played by Bryan Cranston, and we have a play in which this film revolves around. There’s a lot of back and forth and the film is broken down into “Acts” too, almost like a story within a story and it feels like it is designed to be a theatrical production. It works and it adds to the style and also to his usual cinematic techniques, but it feels short, with some characters not fully explored as much and I for one wouldn’t have minded a few more creativity with the science fiction elements. That’s not to say that Asteroid City is boring, it is one of his more exciting films but I just feel like there could have been more to it then what we see.
Anderson takes pride in his character work and he has a lot of talented people in the cast of this film from the likes of Maya Hawk, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johnansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Sophia Lillis, and honestly the list just goes on and on. Anderson has a scent for grabbing talent and giving them characters to play with that you don’t usually see elsewhere in cinema. My personal favourite is Liev Schreiber who plays a father to someone who keeps asking him to dare him to do things. It’s a comedic role and as a serious actor it was fun seeing him bring a bit of playfulness to his role which he usually doesn’t do. There is a lot of comedy in this film, and it is played straight in the usual Anderson way. If you’re familiar with the filmmaker and his previous work then you will know what to expect with this film.
The film looks and feels like a snapshot of 1950s America. From atomic bombs, to talking about traveling to the stars, the Americana feel and tone works well within the story. It is a time period which gets mined a lot with stories based around conspiracies and Aliens, but this film is told in a more character-driven way which in turn helps it stand out above other films. Asteroid City is a blast, and is a highly enjoyable film, and you’ll fall in love with the characters throughout it too. It does leave you wanting more and you do wish it could expand more of the story revolving around the incident that is pivotal to the film. Asteroid City isn’t for everyone, but it deserves your attention as a piece of inventive cinema.
★★★☆☆
3/5
Final Verdict:
Asteroid City is inventive, classy, quirky, stylish and what you would exactly expect from a Wes Anderson film. He does play it safe in terms of keeping the science fiction elements partially grounded and focusing more on the residents, but it does make you wonder what he could have done if he took a more creative approach like his stop-motion work. With a group of great characters and some visually stunning cinematography, Asteroid City feels and looks unlike anything you’ve seen before, I just wish we had more to play with.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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