IR Film Review: ASTEROID CITY [Focus]
The context of "Asteroid City" reflects in its idea of reflexive personality. While its fuel comes from the itterance in many ways of director Wes Anderson's previous film "The French Dispatch", it does come off as a little more disjointed than the superior "The Grand Budapest Hotel". That said, all of Anderson's films are brilliant in many ways, even those that aren't exactly perfect. But he keeps trying undeniably different things with both actors he has always integrated (Willem Dafoe, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman) as well as requisitioning new introductions (Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Maya Hawke). Scheduling on something like this is likely a nightmare but Anderson's vision is so controlled and likely planned out that it (like many have said) functions as a theater troupe that is more relaxed and specific because they know what is happening.
Some fare better than others and the context of what the film is, an almost meta play within a construct within a genre film, does its job admirably. In certain sequences, Anderson alternates between a true widescreen format replete with orange colors to represent the desert to black and white behind the scenes elements supposedly set in New York behind the eyes of the playwright setting the intended backdrop.Bryan Cranston plays a narrator or background voice of sorts (and he plays it well) but this is also a construct of what is being shown. The core of the film (much like "The Royal Tennenbaums") is powered by a would be romance done in a very specific cadence with backstory of its own between Jason Schwartzman's Augie Steenbeck and Scarlet Johansson's Midge Campbell.
This is one of Johansson's best performances in recent memory because it is so controlled and directed in an almost paintlike setting. Most of it is framed inside a bungalow we never go inside. Hanks (and by extension Steve Carrell) like playing in the sandbox but their talents (while not wasted) are much bigger than how they are used. Maya Hawke plays a school teacher with a wonderful wistfulness and Adrien Brody as Schubert Green really stands out as well. However, in an irony, one of the most fantastic scenes is almost arbitrary as the McGuffin of the piece but answers the question in a relative way of meaning.
It is set on two fire escapes and involves Margot Robbie. Its impact, although subtle and brief, almost overshadows Johansson's accomplishments in the film which is ironic. The resolve and progression of "Asteroid City" is of course ironic just by its sheer existence. Anderson has taken on the context and reflection of the Coen Brothers (who now work apart) though he always has Roman Coppola consistently as a writing collaborator and likely set supporrter (him being a director and visual effects artist in his own right). "Astroid City" is a beautiful poem of intersections like most of Anderson's tomes, some parts better than others, but always engaging and brilliant in their own ways. A-
By Tim Wassberg
