Asteroid City

In the long sentence of Wes Anderson’s career thus far, Asteroid City may finally be a full stop (or, given Anderson will already be back with a short film this October, just a comma). Where The Grand Budapest Hotel was endlessly energetic, The French Dispatch was stuffed full of stories, and most of his films have a character’s relentless passion driving them forward, Asteroid City takes place at a rest stop in the middle of a desert. Not that it’s any less exciting or engaging than Anderson’s previous films, but Asteroid City seems to pause and reflect on what makes an Anderson film tick. Characters rehearse their lines, the story we are watching is being written in-between the main action, and the science-fiction elements are deliberately small and, well, cute rather than huge. It’s minimalist Anderson and yet the set is still incredibly detailed, the characters still intriguingly flawed, and the plot still ambitiously off-kilter. One to watch, and re-watch, and watch once more, because all you really need to know is that this film is directed by Wes Anderson

Daniel Kallin