Directed by Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014); Moonrise Kingdom (2012); The Royal Tenenbaums (2002); The French Dispatch (2021)) and starring Bryan Cranston (Trumbo (2015); Argo (2012); Breaking Bad (2008-2013, TV series)), Jason Schwartzman (The French Dispatch (2021); The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014); Saving Mr Banks (2013)), Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit (2019); Marriage Story (2019); Her (2013)) and Tom Hanks (Cast Away (2000); Forrest Gump (1994); Saving Private Ryan (1998)).
Comedy drama; 104 mins: 12+
Set in 1955 and filmed partly in black and white and partly in colour, to differentiate between two setting: firstly, The Host (Bryan Cranston) talks directly to the camera, narrating about a stage production set in a fictional desert town, Asteroid City where an asteroid landed 5,000 years previously; and the second (in a sepia/chromatic colour) the tale of what happens in Asteroid City, a visual portrayal of the stage play.
Following the death of his wife, wartime photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) is driving through the desert with his four children, their eldest a Space Cadet. Their car breaks down and they are forced to stay in the town and wit for his father-in-law, Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks), to arrive; soon after he does, Asteroid City has been quarantined and nobody is allowed in or out.
Another arrival is Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) and her daughter, also a Space Cadet, arrive for a Junior Stargazer convention. While there, an alien makes a surprise entrance, talking the asteroid with it.
The film has Wes Anderson's footprint all over it; however, it is more offbeat that the hugely-successful The Grand Budapest Hotel of nine years ago, leaving behind traditional storytelling along the way for a different creative focus, yet incorporating the unexpected.
It includes a mammoth cast of A-listers and includes references to historical happenings and incidents, including Roswell and Area 51, with a number of intertwining storylines, some of which are better presented than others.
On general release in Luxembourg from 17 June 2023.
