‘Asteroid City’ Review: Wes Anderson Buries His Sci-Fi Story Under Fancy Piles of Eccentricity
thewrap.comCannes Film Festival on Tuesday: If Wes Anderson really were to make a “Star Wars” movie, that film would look nothing at all like the viral video that purports to show what Anderson’s version of the Lucasfilm universe might be like.The proof is in “Asteroid City,” Anderson’s new movie, which premiered in Cannes on Tuesday and does include an alien who comes to Earth in a spaceship.
It takes place in a galaxy far, far away, to be sure, but that galaxy is on Earth. It’s only far, far away from any recognizable human behavior because it’s in Wes-world: a small town populated with nothing but eccentrics in interesting clothing with speech patterns that only marginally resemble actual human communication.“Asteroid City” tells the story of a three-day “Asteroid Day” event in the titular Asteroid City, a desert stopover in the Western U.S.
known for the asteroid crater – actually, it’s a meteorite crater, but why quibble? – just off the main drag (and the only drag, for that matter).
But it’s set in 1955 and begins with Bryan Cranston as a TV announcer explaining that we’re about to see a behind-the-scenes program detailing the creation of a hit stage play about the events in Asteroid City.In other words, the director puts so many filters between the viewer and the events he’s depicting that the plot barely registers.
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