Asteroid City: Wes Anderson finally reveals what’s behind the fourth wall

I’d like you to remember the very first minutes of the first Wes Anderson movie you watched. You were watching something that felt new and yet a little familiar. You probably asked yourself one or two questions about it. Why is the acting so over the top? Why is everything so extremely beautiful? Why is every frame so symmetrical and flat? Why does every location feels as if I am looking on a diagram? Those questions were never answered and yet you still enjoyed being submerged in that odd universe. All of a sudden, after so many movies and so many years, Wes Anderson has finally decided to answer all of it in his latest movie: Asteroid City.

Asteroid City is the latest film written and directed by Wes Anderson. It was co-written with Roman Coppola, also a film director and president of the American Zoetrope (which I absolutely recommend writers to have a look at). The film is a crazy mise en abyme (a story inside a story, inside a story…)- a tv show documentary about how the playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton) created his most famous fictional play. That play is about Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a widowed photographer who copes with grief, travels to the small Asteroid City to make his son compete in a junior stargazing event. The tv show is in black and white because, by the time it was released, televisions were probably black and white, while the theatrical play is in color. What we expect to see from Wes Anderson is in that theatrical play.

Now, there’s something we have to talk about. Wes Anderson, like the Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino and some other impressive filmmakers, has unfortunately created a toxic relationship with his fans. If he repeats the formula that once worked for his audience, then fans could feel disappointed. If he changes his style too much, fans could also get disappointed. I can imagine this to become a heavy weight on an artist’s shoulder. However, I’d believe that these are the moments when an artist asks to himself whether he is still passionate about his craft. I believe Wes Anderson certainly is.

Asteroid City is an amazing, subtle dialogue between Wes Anderson and his style, that universe he has created long ago. So many times his characters breaking the fourth wall while looking at us, and we didn’t quite know what was going on, what was behind that fourth wall. The reason is that perhaps all his movies are about movies or plays. His entire universe is fictional indeed, and yet quite alive. Wes Anderson doesn’t care that people find out that “THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY”. Asteroid City, for the first time, decides to challenge the audience and yells “YES WE ARE INVENTED CHARACTERS, BUT WE ARE STILL REAL”. They happen to live in that universe. That universe is Wes Anderson’s legacy. And legacy, in the end, is what this movie is about.

Okay, perhaps Asteroid City is about so many other things, but to me, it’s mostly about how we try, in life, to leave a legacy while life not only keeps happening, but also leaves a mark on us. The asteroid itself is a metaphor for it. A metaphor that has left a mark on humans. Such a mark that they built a whole city around it. Luckily, the asteroid is not just a production prop for Wes Anderson. The asteroid serves a purpose, which is to tell a beautiful story.

Spoilers ahead.

This asteroid story is the only thing I am going to spoil for you, but beware, because to me, it’s the thing that makes this movie special.

So, for this one, Wes Anderson applied the most important rule of filmmaking: don’t tell, just show. According to what we watch in the movie, the story about the asteroid is: a UFO comes to Asteroid City during the night when asteroiders (is that what they are called? I don’t know) and visitors are stargazing. An alien comes out of the ship, picks up the asteroid, lets Augie take a picture of him, and leaves. One week later (if I’m not mistaken), the alien comes back and leaves the asteroid where it was. General Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) realizes that the asteroid now has a mark on it and he thinks it has been inventoried.

But that’s just what we see.

I haven’t seen any interpretation of it, but here it’s mine (and please allow me to sound stupid):

This Alien is actually a kid. He has been playing something like an intergalactic baseball. He does a home run and his ball just goes out of space. His ball lands on a neighbor’s home, which happens to be Earth. Wes Anderson’s Earth. He gets there in a thud (five thousand years, according to a city billboard) just to recover his ball. A week later, he realizes something: there’s a whole city built around my ball! So, after giving it a thought, he comes back, and leaves his ball back to where it was. Although, he decides to tag it this time. It’s his. It’s mine. I was here. That’s what he wants: to be remembered. And that’s also what the playwright Conrad Earp wanted to leave with this play, too.

Wes Anderson has created a whole fictional universe throughout the years and with this film, he is adding a new layer. Is it his best movie? Maybe not. The funniest? Not even close. I must admit that during the first scenes I found myself very uncomfortable and anxious. I was too excited, probably expecting too much. But too much of what? I couldn’t say. Certainly we shouldn’t expect an iteration of the formula that once worked for him. We should never expect that! That lack of authenticity is actually killing cinema. A filmmaker not reinventing himself is just committing suicide. That’s why I appreciate Asteroid City. Wes Anderson is truly committed to his craft. After the movie, I felt like I can also reinvent myself. For the artists and for the nostalgics, this is a message of hope. If you have watched it already, try to watch it again. If you haven’t watched it yet, please try to watch it while it’s still on theaters.