Alright! Today I'm reviewing the latest film from Wes Anderson, a story about a small secluded desert town called Asteroid City, where the Junior Stargazers are having a convention soon to be interrupted by an alien encounter. Like all Wes Anderson films, it's a meticulously framed large ensemble story about the quiet and humane moments in life - but this time, the color scheme is tan and teal!
There's also a larger framing narrative that the story we're seeing is actually a play from acclaimed playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), whose scenes are shot in black-and-white and concern his struggles in writing and directing. They don't really add much, and during the theatrical run, I noticed people using them as a small bathroom break or as a chance to refill their popcorn. They were fun to watch and all, but knowing that the main plot of Asteroid City was an in-universe fiction was somewhat saddening as it was the more interesting of the two plot threads.
Like every other film from Anderson, the movie really, really feels like it should be funny - but, like the others, it's not. His work reminds me vaguely of Napoleon Dynamite, another comedy whose humor is contrived by the quiet absence of it. The most interesting moment of the movie was undoubtedly the alien's long-awaited appearance, whose distinctly old-fashioned visual effects bolstered the entire movie, and whose simple motivations were absolutely adorable. The alien's sudden appearance was also accompanied by the best music in the movie, a subtle but vibrant piano track.
Asteroid City is like any other Wes Anderson movie but with two important distinctions: one is that the color scheme is now tan and teal, and the other is that the cast of this one was subjectively my favorite of his ensembles (Tom Hanks, Maya Rudolph, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Willem Dafoe, Scarlett Johansson, and Steve Carell to name a few). Everything else is more of what you've seen from his prior works in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, or Moonrise Kingdom. If you like those movies, the humor, cinematography, and framing, you'll like Asteroid City. If not, well, this won't win you over.
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| Sometimes there's not much to say. |
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