Asteroid City

Staying within the frame: Scarlett Johansson and Jason Schwartzman in Asteroid City

Wes Anderson's Asteroid City may not be in the upper echelon of Anderson's work, but few other films released in 2023 are as rewarding visually. Easily dismissed as twee and artificial, certainly I have dismissed his lesser films as such, Anderson's films always offer up enough references and Easter eggs to keep a passel of PHD candidates busy into the next century. Asteroid City is no exception, pivoting back and forth from color to black and white. The black and white sections are focused on the fictional play that is the basis for the film we see in the color sections. The black and white sections are in the 4:3 aspect ratio and resemble television's Playhouse 90 or The Twilight Zone with Bryan Cranston filling in for Rod Serling as our host. The color segments are in widescreen with vivid pastel colors. The décor is full of Populuxe furniture and gadgets. As in all of Anderson's later films, we have departed from the mode of realism. 

I can't say I was emotionally involved in the film or that it provoked any loud chortles, but I was reasonably engaged and amused. Part of people's problems with Anderson, along with willingness to eschew the canons of realism, stems from his use of large ensemble casts. This approach does not involve audiences emotionally into his films. It is no accident that his two best films, Rushmore and The Grand Budapest Hotel, focus more narrowly on would be lovers and or mentors. There are so many characters in Asteroid City it is hard enough to keep track of them, much less empathize with them. Anderson's tendency of late to base his characters on famous figures also produces a distancing effect. We see up on the screen variations on Marilyn Monroe, Robert Capa, Tennessee Williams, and Elia Kazan. The character don't seem to really exist in the actual fifties, but in a mythopoetic evocation of that era. The characters themselves are mythic figures like the ones immortalized by Greek myths and in Astrology, and Astronomy. It is no quirk or accident that the three daughters of one of the principal characters are named Pandora, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia. Anderson does not seek to make his characters real, to him they serve as symbolic guideposts whether they are arranged amongst the stars or shining on the silver screen. 

Asteroid City, as usual for Anderson, boasts an impressive array of performances. Thesps obviously die to work for the man. not for the money, but for good dialogue and sense of creative bonhomie. Anderson lets some of his old hands do whatever they want as long as they stay in their space within the frame. It is telling that Anderson helped manage as many interesting performances from his rookies as his veterans. I especially enjoyed Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Maya Hawke, Rupert Friend, Adrien Brody, Sophia Lillis, and Jake Ryan. Beneath its sherbet colored visage and its wacky UFO cover story, Asteroid City touches upon serious themes. It explores the split between Science and Religion in the US which has only become more pronounced since the 1950s. The film also opens up a can of worms about how historical representation, modulated by different stylistic modes for different effects, operates in the cinema. That is the topic for a book, but it indicates why Asteroid City, alone upon 2023 American commercial releases thus far, merits a second viewing.