Asteroid City
His best since The Grand Budapest Hotel. I don’t understand people saying that he discards storytelling in favour of aesthetic and that the characters lack depth. I thought the storytelling was interesting and very funny and I also thought that there was a lot of depth to the characters. If you think they lack emotion, I don’t know what to tell you other than that you probably didn’t pay any attention while watching the film.
he managed to add new surprising elements (the 'you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep' scene) and somehow made this film more approachable than The French Dispatch in my opinion. What surprised me as well is the humour. I don’t know why but it felt kind of more present and more ‘mainstream' (not in a bad way) than in his other films. It’s definitely not slapstick-like but it felt like it was made for a broader audience.
other than that I also thought the writing was brilliant and there were lots of lines that really stuck with me. Of course Wes’s dialogue is always really fast paced so I think to really appreciate the writing you definitely have to see it more than once. the cinematography and the set design were amazing too but I think that goes without saying. The only thing I have to criticise is the ending. It felt kind of rushed and I wish he would’ve done more with it. It felt kind of like he was a bit shy to experiment towards the end.
Overall I really loved it and I think it’s definitely a good mix of elements from his more recent films like The French Dispatch and from his earlier films like Rushmore (Woodrow reminded me of characters like Max Fisher, Sam, or Ash and those are my favourite kind of characters so I’m glad he brought that back).
Also a plus point for the Schwartzman/Norton kiss. So in conclusion, it definitely didn’t disappoint and Wes Anderson proves that he’s more than just a trendy aesthetic on TikTok and that AI still doesn’t come anywhere close to what he creates. (this is probably the longest review I’ve ever written)