AMMAN — Wes Anderson’s directorial style is so distinctive
and particular — so Wessy — that it has spawned no end of recent AI
parodies.
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But how do those imitations compare with the real thing?
Many of Anderson’s signature obsessions are on display in
his new movie, “Asteroid City,” a ’50s-set comedy about different sets of
parents accompanying their space-obsessed kids to a convention in the desert,
where they all must quarantine together after receiving an unexpected visitor
from the skies. (Strained family dynamics, nerdy children, and whimsical
settings … check, check, check!)
Critics appeared split on the movie after its Cannes Film
Festival premiere Tuesday: though “Asteroid City” got glowing notices in The
Telegraph and IndieWire, Variety deemed it “for Anderson die-hards only.”
That suggests this is his Wessiest movie yet, a case that
could certainly be made when you consider the following:
It’s filled with his favorite actorsThe expansive cast includes several Anderson regulars,
including Jason Schwartzman as a war photographer and Tilda Swinton as a kooky
astronomer, plus Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber,
and Tony Revolori.
Scarlett Johansson, previously called on to do a voice in
Anderson’s stop-motion “Isle of Dogs,” gets her first live-action role for the
director as a self-absorbed actress who finds herself quarantined next door to
Schwartzman. Only two Anderson veterans are missing: Bill Murray, who was
originally cast in “Asteroid City” but reportedly had to drop out because of
COVID-19, and Owen Wilson.
There are big stars in small rolesActors clamor to star in Anderson’s films, and he takes full
advantage: Even the tiniest supporting roles are typically filled with heavy
hitters (as in “The French Dispatch,” where Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss is
essentially a featured extra).
“Asteroid City” welcomes A-lister Tom Hanks into the fold as
Schwartzman’s father-in-law, though he’s not as significant a presence as you
might expect. Still, at least he’s got more to do than “Barbie” star Margot
Robbie and recent Oscar nominee Hong Chau, who each pop in for the briefest of
cameos. In future Anderson films, maybe they’ll be upgraded to the main
ensemble.
It's got a complicated framing deviceAnderson’s films often call attention to their own
storytelling by nesting the narrative within another narrative: Perhaps it’s
all taking place in a book, or the vignettes are stories in a magazine. In
“Asteroid City,” the director indulges in his most complicated construction
yet: We’re meant to be watching a TV broadcast (hosted by Bryan Cranston) that
dramatizes the story of a playwright (Norton) who wrote an unproduced stage
production called “Asteroid City.”
Those framing segments are shot in black and white. It’s
only when we leap into the idea of his play that Anderson transports
us to the gorgeous teals and burnt oranges of the desert, where most of this
story within a story (within a story!) unfolds.
It all takes place on rigid linesThough Anderson has become less fixated on placing his
actors in the smack-dab middle of the frame, he still blocks his camera
movements and choreography in “Asteroid City” so that everything and everybody
moves on an x or y axis at all times. (If you want to sneak up on someone in a
Wes Anderson movie, do it diagonally. They’d never think to look!)
There are deadpan expressions of grief
Schwartzman’s war photographer has something he’s meaning to
tell his children: Their mother has died.
Or, more specifically, their mother died three weeks ago and
he just hasn’t found the right moment to bring it up. The situation is
outrageous, but Schwartzman’s performance is classic Wes deadpan, and though
most of the cast members give the same steady line readings, that house style
is at its best when you can sense real, troubled currents underneath a placid
exterior.
But it could have been even Wessier …If, after reading all this, you think “Asteroid City”
couldn’t get more Wessy … well, it could! At the film’s Cannes news conference
Wednesday, actor Steve Park said that before shooting began, Anderson created a
feature-length, animated storyboard, or animatic, in which he did all the
voices himself. “Release the animatics,” Wright intoned solemnly.
… especially if it used slow-motion.Later in the news conference, a reporter confronted Anderson
about one trademark that’s disappeared: Though he used to use slow-motion
sequences fairly often — think Gwyneth Paltrow dramatically exiting her bus in
“The Royal Tenenbaums” — recent films like “Asteroid City” have all but dropped
the device. “I have a series of ways I like to stage things and I don’t know if
I’m in command of them — it’s part of my personality,” Anderson said, before
growing concerned.
“That’s one of the tools that I’ve used often, and I should
look for some spots for that,” he promised the reporter. “I’ll take the note.
And I’ll do it!”
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