Asteroid City

It's sometimes hard to write new ways to praise a consistently appealing film style. I wish I could articulate better than pointing out stunningly realistic robots in disguise, for example. It's somewhat easier to articulate on Asteroid City's visual style. Ironically, it's the latest film of another consistently appealing filmmaker - Wes Anderson.

Let's start with the titular place. This desert town designed by Adam Stockhausen and filtered through Robert Yeomen's camera sears into your eyes with its vivid color palette. Its every hue is amplified by the desert sun. Contrast that with Stanley Zak's (Tom Hanks) cooler estate when he argues with son-in-law Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman). Its incomplete highway is as quirky as the town's centerpiece crater. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Who are Stanley and Augie?

They're two of the ensemble of Conrad Earp's (Edward Norton) latest play, Asteroid City. A TV Host (Bryan Cranston) presents the play's origins as a black-and-white special, while the play itself is visualized in color. Augie's son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) is among the five teen geniuses competing for a scholarship at Asteroid City's Junior Stargazer Convention. Augie and Stanley's mutual dislike is made worse by Auggie's wife/Stanleys daughter's recent death. Augie soon falls for movie star Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), while Woodrow falls for her daughter and fellow genius, Dinah (Grace Edwards). 

There's a whole bunch of others. The harried Gen. Gibson (Jeffrey Wright), schoolteacher June (Maya Hawke) and her charges, Dr. Hickenlooper (Tilda Swinton) and singing cowboy Montana (Rupert Friend) barely scratch the surface of its massive cast list. Their lives are complicated when they get a close encounter of the third kind. This forces the US Government to quarantine the city. The residents try to make do, but that won't last forever. Meanwhile, Jones Hall, who plays Augie, tries to make sense of the story.

Let's rundown a few subplots. Woodrow's sisters Andromeda, Pandora and Cassiopeia (triplets Ella, Gracie and Willan Farris) argue with Stanley over their mom's final resting place. Junior Stargazer Ricky Cho (Ethan Josh Lee) blows the alien cover-up wide open, while fellow honoree Clifford Kellogg (Aristou Meehan) keeps asking adults to dare him to do stupid stuff. The real world adds Mercedes Ford's (cast as Midge) conflicts with director Schubert Green (Adrien Brody) and Jones reconnecting with the actress who would have played Augie's wife (Margot Robbie). It's surprisingly easy to comprehend it all during its 105 minutes.

None of Wes Anderson's films produced a single acting Oscar nomination. Maybe Schwartzman's should be the first. Augie deals with his loss on multiple fronts. He's not that successful but he's still a good protagonist. His romance with Midge, as well as Woodrow's with Dinah, is charming. His and Stanley's mutual dislike is as funny as it is tense. It's quite compelling to watch him make sense of the strangeness. Jones Hall is magnetic when he acts out a scene for Earp. The climax gives him and Augie much needed closure. It's not a lot but it's enough.

The close encounters are as awkward as they are stunning. Alexandre Desplat's score perfectly sells us the magnitude of the alien's visits. Both times, the alien's ship bathes the town in green light. Everything stops. But then comes the alien, a lean spaceman who awkwardly makes off with, and later returns, the town's prized meteorite. It's practically a deer in the headlights. Its awkwardness is perfectly portrayed by stop-motion, while the play's suit is pretty good. I'm going to leave the name briefly seen as the alien's actor a surprise.

You'll barely forget anybody or their subplots in Asteroid City's massive cast. You might need that cast list to pick out a few actors (like Liev Schrieber as Clifford's dad). But their characters stand out easily in such a short runtime. Their stories are just as appealing as its visual styles. Come down to the local theater for a few delightfully quirky hours at Asteroid City. Wait till you see the Stargazers' inventions. See what I mean when you see it soon.