Asteroid City

 Asteroid City - the newest film by uber-hipster director, Wes Anderson - is the 5th film of his that I've reviewed on this site (4 "new" and 1 "retro"). Out of those, Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, it's Grand Budapest that stands the highest, by quite a margin. That first experience I had with him has become the bar I expect, and which I'm often finding will probably always be his best. That's not an insult, but almost more so just a deeper appreciation for how great that film is. 

In that vein, Asteroid City is probably my 2nd (or tied for 2nd) favorite film when you consider the group above. I was fonder of Isle of Dogs than most, but Asteroid City is brimming with that Anderson quirk and is - from a technical standpoint - dare I say...perfect. 

Per usual, we're given an eclectic cast of characters with big name actors and actresses. Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Steve Carell...the list goes on and on (just look at the poster!). The story is overly indulgent, for some reason making this - Asteroid City - a play within real life. I'm sure there's some much deeper, hipster reason that I'm not understanding for all of that, and the black-and-white scenes about how this play was made are the film's weakest (though not bad by any means), but there's lots of good silly fun to be had once we're in "Asteroid City". I'm not sure I get the meaning behind it or it's aggressive "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep!" sentiment at the end, but hey! Sometimes it's about the journey. 

And the journey is a really entertaining one. For starters, this is a visually striking movie. The desert-based color palette is present at all times, and Anderson has been known to spend time making sure each frame has exactly what he wants in it. In Asteroid City, that precision of framing is honestly a bit hypnotic in the best of ways. The cinematography, editing, and music is all delightfully "Andersonian" and in that way reminded me a lot of Grand Budapest. Similarly too, Asteroid City is funny. I rarely found it laugh-out-loud funny, which is a norm in his films, but it's consistently amusing. I had a smile more often than I didn't and the zany quirkiness of these characters and this premise create a lot of memorable moments. 

I highly doubt Wes Anderson will ever attempt to make a film to appease the mainstream. He has his schtick, and he's arguably the only one who can achieve it. Asteroid City is one of his bests (or at least out of the films I've seen) despite being a bit muddled in the screenplay. If you're a cinephile, see it for the precise execution alone, much less the fact it's a pretty fun time with an original story. 

Rapid Rath's Review Score | 8/10