Asteroid City reviews

[Mister Tee]

I saw this a while back, and have intended to write about it ever since.

The thing is, I don't know quite what to say. I remember coming out of Inside Llewyn Davis a decade ago, and saying to my companion, I liked it, but I couldn't tell you why. I felt much the same about this latest Anderson opus. I don't know what exactly it was trying to say to me. In the late scene where someone says "I don't understand the play", my reaction was, Get in line. I didn't think the multi-framing devices did a blessed thing to enhance the piece. I didn't have any growing sense of the film's reason-for-being as we zeroed in on the final moments. Even a small nit: I could never get a good fix on in which year the present-day scenes were supposed to be set. (It seems late 50s/early 60s, but why on earth would something set then have a nude scene?) All these things got very much in the way of my having a cohesive experience.

But, moment to moment, I enjoyed it. I liked the across-yard conversations between Schwartzman and Johansson. I took pleasure in the wild unpredictability of the narrative (like the sudden arrival of the alien). I appreciated small details, like the real estate deals being available via vending machine. And, as always, I could revel in Anderson's attention to design, with one glorious eye-candy set after another presenting itself.

Is that enough to make it memorable? Not in the fullest sense. For me to love a film, I need to want to chew on it subsequent to watching it. Because my impressions of this were so ephemeral to begin with, I had no way to enhance the experience by reliving/rethinking it. But, while I was there in the theatre, I experienced a certain pleasure. And that's not nothing.

[dws1982]

I think Universal now has a blanket policy where, if a movie grosses less than a certain amount, it goes on VOD something like 18 days after its release. (Although they waived that for Nolan who demanded a 100 day window.) I know that was part of the reason why Fast 10 was on VOD so soon. But that shouldn't apply to something like this that platforms and still is less-wide than films that have been out for weeks like The Little Mermaid. Movies like this can still become hits through word of mouth if they're given time.

I was mixed on The French Dispatch as well. I haven't watched it since the first time I saw it back around New Years 2022, and owe it a rewatch as well. These two films remind me of a criticism of the Coens that was in Inside Oscar 2, something along the lines of "their films are so closed in". I think their world has expanded over the years, but interestingly, I think close to the opposite is true of Anderson, whose earlier films seemed more universal.

[Sabin]

dws1982 wrote
The astronomy convention stuff is overall pretty good, and the performances are mostly very good, but I think the movie should've been that entirely. I definitely will watch it again (and it hits VOD way too soon for something that is doing well at the box-office) though.

I had no idea it was being released on VOD in less than two weeks. That makes no sense to me. This thing should be able to cruise in theaters until September. It's not like Focus has anything else opening until then anyway. Maybe Focus just isn't what it used to be.

I'm struggling with this film as well. How did you feel about The French Dispatch?

[dws1982]

Struggled with this one.

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The whole conceit that we are watching a televised production of a play called Asteroid City was something that just didn't work for me; the black-and-white scenes of the theatre and an (as always) overstated Bryan Cranston were mostly bad and didn't add anything to the film that couldn't have been (and wasn't already) in the main narrative: for example, Adrien Brody and Hong Chau were good in their scene, but the main narrative already spoke eloquently about parental and marital failures; it gets into loss and failure in those scenes, but so does the main narrative! There is always a measure of artifice in Anderson's movies, but I don't think anything is gained by making it so explicitly textual. And if he is going to frame this as a TV production from the old TV days, maybe the live TV approach should show up everywhere, and not just in the sets and visual effects, which look like you would expect in a play from that era, but in the cinematography as well. It looks great--the colors and the framing are first rate, as they usually are with Anderson--but it feels like he couldn't sacrifice his trademark visual style for something that made more sense within the parameters of the TV production conceit. The astronomy convention stuff is overall pretty good, and the performances are mostly very good, but I think the movie should've been that entirely. I definitely will watch it again (and it hits VOD way too soon for something that is doing well at the box-office) though.

[Sabin]

Asteroid City had a massive opening weekend. In an age where moviegoers are agnostic about going to the theaters, Wes Anderson remains a major draw for the limited release crowd.

I'm still sorting through my thoughts on the film but one thing I can't help but notice is that his output is ramping up. It used to take 3-4 years for Wes Anderson to make a new film. COVID might have shuffled his calendar of release a little bit, but this year he has Asteroid City plus a 37 Netflix short with another movie that's due to release next year.

[Reza]

I liked Asteroid City. I'm going to watch it again to see if it opens up a little more. I think it's probably more successful than The French Dispatch but less grand.

Aah....the luxury of young age!!

[Sabin]

Saw it last night. Still mulling it over. Very much of a piece with The French Dispatch. I think it's more enjoyable to watch but I also felt pulled into it less. I was more moved by the idea of Bill Murray's publisher giving his staff free rein than any of these trapped quarantining characters, non of which are very memorable. That said, it's the most meta film I've seen Anderson do. The flashes to actors playing the characters is a deliberate identity crisis in the film. In the film's weirdest scene, Schwartzman and Johansson are playing both the characters, the actors playing the characters, and maybe themselves, almost as though the film itself (or Wes Anderson) is having a nervous breakdown. Without giving anything away, there's a scene near the end of the film that is as confessional as anything he's ever done. But as a whole? It's both featherlight but stewing in uncertainty. It's less a story than a collection of fun scenes. Is it profound? I'll need to let it sit a little more, but I think it might have been better served to play it less on the fence and either break one way towards telling a story or breaking into new confessional territory. Oh, and maybe it's about COVID?

Wes Anderson started his career with as strong cult of personality as any filmmaker of my life. I should know. I was in it (I still love him even if I don't love all his films). But now I think he's moved into a new territory where people can just pick and choose which ones they like and which ones they don't but they blend together a little, not unlike Woody Allen's post-revered era. If you like what he does, you'll like his movies. I liked Asteroid City. I'm going to watch it again to see if it opens up a little more. I think it's probably more successful than The French Dispatch but less grand.

[Okri]

I find it interesting because I've grown more fond of Wes Anderson over the past 25 years. Not continuously (I abhor The Darjeeling Ltd and it made me question my opinion on his first four), but Moonrise Kingdom and especially The Grand Budapest Hotel really worked on me. Both are just sly heartbreakers.

I want to revisit The French Dispatch, though I remember being fonder of that one than it's general reputation. And I found the trailer to this one rather delightful. But I'm a sucker for genre films set in past times.

[danfrank]

I’m more than glad to keep going along for the ride.

[Sabin]

Sonic Youth wrote
I know I'm not the biggest Anderson fan around here, so I'm sorry but when does a filmmaker's personal style become self-parody?

For him? I started hearing it around The Life Aquatic.

There's probably no chance of this but I hope he starts co-writing with Owen Wilson again.

[Sonic Youth]

I know I'm not the biggest Anderson fan around here, so I'm sorry but when does a filmmaker's personal style become self-parody? I watched the trailer and could barely get through it.

Please, no more precocious children!

[Sabin]

I was reading these reviews and trying to get a hold of the film. Then I got to this in Owen Gleiberman's review:

"Did I mention that the lead characters are, at the same time, stage actors who are “playing” these very same roles back in New York in a black-and-white teleplay called “Asteroid City,” presented by The Host (Bryan Cranston)? If your reaction to that is “Huh?” you won’t be alone."

The actors playing stage actors playing the characters we're watching sounds like the same more is more style that marred The French Dispatch.

[Mister Tee]

The two trade reviews are, as it happens, by far the worst (and almost appear to be exactly the same opinion). Some others are raves, some very mixed.

[Mister Tee]

This seems an easier way to link to as broad a range of reviews as possible:

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/astero ... ic-reviews