Asteroid City – Cannes 2023 (Film Review)

Wes Anderson has well and truly out-Wes-Andersoned himself. From the very first frames of Asteroid City, we are plunged into the twee, pastel world of Wes. As usual, his charm is irresistible. This time around, Anderson's world encapsulates a small town in 1950's America.  

The world-building is exquisite, largely due to production designer Adam Stockenhausen's astonishing sets which look more like a sparsely-populated backdrop, rather than an emulation of the real world (the reason for which is soon to be revealed). Still, the warm, comforting colour palette and nods to Anderson's traditional wit make this perhaps his best setting yet; with the particularly entertaining inclusion of an unfinished bridge-to-nowhere due to a ‘route calculation error'. Couple this with the carefully-curated, plucky 50s soundtrack — and as soon as you know it, we've become nostalgic for a time and place most viewers would have never even experienced in their respective lifetime. Such is the wholesome appeal of Asteroid City.

First to arrive in the city is newly-widowed Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) with his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan), with three daughters in tow. Next, movie star Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) with her daughter. In quick succession, a host of other genius children with their long-suffering parents. The purpose of their visit? The annual Asteroid Day celebration, where one of these child prodigies will be awarded a scholarship for their contribution to science by Tilda Swinton's eccentric Dr Hickenlooper.

But of course, with such an eclectic group in such a remote setting, chaos is bound to ensue. The chaos in question takes the form of the extra-terrestrial. A visit from a friendly alien derails the celebrations, and Asteroid City is plunged into a government lockdown which forces everyone to finally face the problems they've been running from: love, loss, and reckoning with their place in the world. 

Had the titular town of Asteroid City remained the film's only setting, it would have been one of Wes Anderson's best films to date. Unfortunately, the film is thwarted by its overcomplicated framing-device which prevents the underlying themes from boiling over the surface.  Anderson's framing style has become increasingly ambitious for a near-on decade now. 2014's The Grand Budapest Hotel was a story within a story. 2021's The French Dispatch was, until now, Anderson's most daring project yet — with three of the titular newspaper's most famous stories encapsulated within the curated legacy of editor Arthur Howitzer Jr.'s passing. But Asteroid City surpasses them all: a film which is actually a stage play (directed by Adrien Brody's character), with Bryan Cranston hosting the TV show commemorating the aforementioned play — all summed up somewhat neatly within a film. The framing device is complicated to the point that Scarlett Johansson's basically plays an actress, playing an actress, who is playing an actress. It's pretty meta stuff, and unfortunately, it doesn't quite land. 

So much of Asteroid City is caught up in the whirlwind of its various mediums. Identifying the overwhelming number of famous faces in the film's kinetic edit means all substance fails to break through. There are genuinely intriguing themes of grief, family tragedy, hopelessness and existentialism just waiting to be mined. However, the narrative framing and structure distances them so far from the surface, they become almost entirely inaccessible. 

It goes without saying that the performances are impeccable all round. Scarlett Johansson's Midge and Jason Schwartzman's Augie are certainly the standouts from Anderson's latest. But Margot Robbie's all-too-brief cameo offers a particularly melancholic moment of stillness and poignancy, Tom Hanks is brilliant as Augie's bitter and curmudgeonly father-in-law, and Steve Carell amuses as Asteroid City's trusty motel-owner. Still, so many of Hollywood's biggest names are underused in Asteroid City, which poses the question: how can anyone shine when the entire production is filled with stars?

It seems that Asteroid City is more invested in the context of its storytelling than with the story itself — which unfortunately feels like a missed opportunity for the depth of its material. Die-hard fans of Wes Anderson's unique style will undoubtedly enjoy his most daring venture yet. But, viewers who value narrative over style will find that Asteroid City requires more than just one viewing to truly enjoy the best that Wes has to offer.

Asteroid City premiered in competition at this year's 76th Cannes Film Festival.