Asteroid City

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

[mr_rating_result]

Director Wes Anderson announced this as an untitled romance film, but it was a little more complicated than that.

“Asteroid City” introduces us to a war photographer, an actress, an astronomer, a playwright, a singing cowboy, a TV host, and an acting teacher, among others. Oh yes, and an Alien.

The plot of this science-fiction rom-com dramedy follows the events at an annual Junior Stargazer convention. Set in a retro-futuristic version of 1955, students and parents from across the country gather for a scholarly competition at a convention held in a fictional American desert town.

Like most Wes Anderson films, “Asteroid City” features an ensemble cast. This one includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, and Jeff Goldblum. Quite an impressive lineup.

The conceit of “Asteroid City” is that all this is sort of a play within a play.

Anderson says, “Ultimately, every time I make a movie, I’m just trying to figure out what I want to do and then figure out how to make it such that we do what I want. It’s usually an emotional choice and it’s usually quite mysterious to me how to end up where I end up.

“We know the main movie is the play. But we also have a behind-the-scenes making of the play. We also have a guy telling us that this is a television broadcast of a hypothetical play that doesn’t actually exist. It’s not my intention to make it complicated. It’s just me doing what I want.”

If you’re a Wes Anderson fan, it’s what you want too.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com