Movie Review - Asteroid City

Asteroid City is an all-star oddity from Wes Anderson (Grand Budapest Hotel) that rolls just about every mid-'50s element into one package. Stars Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston an many more.Wes Anderson movies are often described as 'an acquired taste' or 'you'll love them or hate them'. But I'm not sure that's entirely true. I certainly liked some of them - Moonrise Kingdom and Isle of Dogs say - more than others - Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Fantastic Mr Fox maybe. Though I can't tell you why exactly.Which brings us to Asteroid City, which I enjoyed rather more than many full-time Wes Anderson fans did. Perhaps it was because so many references were directly aimed at me. Especially the musical and early television ones.Asteroid City is set up as an artificial story, written by a New York playwright for a stagey TV set. The sort of thing they did in 1950s shows like The Richard Boone Show and the more famous Twilight Zone. The narrator - Bryan Cranston - appears in monochrome to introduce a colourful story set in Asteroid City, where five Junior Star Gazers and their parents arrive to be handed prizes by General Gibson - Anderson regular Jeffery Wright.In fact, most of the cast is made up of Anderson favourites, old and new. Joining Wright are other old hands like Jason Schwartzmann, Tilda Swinton and Ed Norton. Newer faces include Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks as Jason Schwartzmann's father in law and the young Faris triplets as Schwartzmann's daughters.And it goes without saying that Asteroid City is colourful. In fact, I kept trying to work out the unique pastel wash that permeates the film. But it turns out that's pretty much what it looks like in the middle of Spain, where the film was shot.The set was completely built by Anderson and his crew, often in miniature.Like so many Wes Anderson films - both live action and stop-motion animation - the aesthetic is that of a brilliantly constructed series of doll's houses or the world's greatest train set.But everything about Asteroid City is designed to recapture a half-forgotten period, including the music. Most of it seems to be old-timey American country, but it's as artificial as the sets - much of it owing more to English skiffle groups than authentic Nashville C & W. There's actually a country group that pops up now and again, featuring faux-cowboys like Brit-pop legend Jarvis Cocker.Meanwhile the alarmingly talented Junior Star Gazers display their inventions that include a flying jetpack, a botanical accelerant and a death-ray…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details