Asteroid City

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Wes Anderson

May 23, 2023

“Asteroid City” is the title of both the movie and the play set inside said movie (if you are able to understand and distinguish between the play and the creation of the play it makes the film much easier to watch). It is a drama about loss and the incomprehensible that takes place in the town of Asteroid City. The town is centered around a 100-foot crater, laid by a meter 5,000 years ago. A gas station, a lunch counter, a hotel, a phone booth, and a highway ramp that leads nowhere, are what make up the melancholy town.

The film revolves around several gifted children who have invented items that might be considered futuristic in the Futurama universe. But of course, the parents are blinded by their children’s quirky personalities and are thus unable to understand the magnitude of how unearthing their inventions are, but that’s only a mild oddity in this bizarre play.

Luckily their inventions are recognized by scientists who properly honor them with badges for different achievements. This ceremony is what brings the families together in the remote location of “Asteroid City.”

One night while witnessing an eclipse at the foot of the asteroid, a UFO appears from space, and an alien descends from the ship to retrieve the asteroid. The new knowledge of intelligent life has little effect on the parents who are only burdened to stay in Asteroid City for an extended week by the President himself.

“Asteroid City” is one of Anderson’s most brilliantly designed and skillfully carried out films. The location is stunning geographically and geologically, as Anderson’s locations for all of his films have a tendency to be. The orange of the desert and the clear blue sky (with the occasional interruption of a mushroom cloud) match his previous film’s dull yet beautiful pictures.

That being said, nothing is more niche than a Wes Anderson film audience. The slapstick comedy, fascinating plots and grainy picture isn’t for everyone. Fortunately for those who do get along with his films will relish “Asteroid City,” everyone else can save the ticket receipts

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