In a day and age of risk-averse cinema, increased stylistic homogenization, and obsession with intellectual properties, the films of writer/director Wes Anderson have a special creative potency. On a general level, audiences have expectations that are consistently met (dry-but-witty dialogue, precocious children, pastel colors, and tracking shots galore, to name a few), but the features surprise, engage, and stand apart with smart and complex personalities, odd narratives, and what registers as works of an unimpeded auteur. Like many of his peers from the 1980s/1990s class of indie writer/directors, Anderson’s uncompromised vision continues to have an important place in modern cinema, and his latest, the delightful, cartoony Asteroid City, is here to reconfirm that truth.
Release Date: June 16, 2023
Directed By: Wes Anderson
Written By: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, and Bryan Cranston
Rating: PG-13 on appeal for brief graphic nudity, smoking and some suggestive material
Runtime: 105 minutes
