Mysteries of the universe reside in Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’

Throughout most of his filmography, writer/director Wes Anderson calls attention to his very particular storytelling quirks. It’s most notable in those lingering shots of lovingly crafted, often pastel-soaked props and other bits of eye-catching production design.

Other times, Anderson’s observance of structure becomes a major narrative force in his movies. Consider the book chapters and narration of 2001’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the framing devices in 2014’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” or perhaps most notably, the intermingling of stories within stories in 2021’s “The French Dispatch.”

Anderson’s new film, “Asteroid City,” serves as a continuation of the cross-stitched storytelling of “The French Dispatch,” though Anderson’s thematic intentions are more focused and (potentially) accessible for a mainstream audience. Still, “Asteroid City” begins two levels “above” the film’s main story in the titular desert town.

Bryan Cranston opens the film as a host of a television documentary about a renowned playwright (Edward Norton) working on his play, “Asteroid City.” Sequences with Norton and Adrien Brody as the play’s director get sprinkled in-between the main narrative (think of it as the filmed version of the play), which focuses on a collection of travelers who get stuck in a small desert town while attending a junior astronomy convention.

Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson (who effectively have two roles — both playing the “actors” portraying the characters inside the “Asteroid City” narrative. Inside the play, Schwartzman is Augie Steenbeck, a clench-jawed war photographer traveling with his four children — his junior astronomy convention participant/genius son (Jake Ryan) and his three young daughters. At the start of their story, he has not yet told his children that their mother recently died from a long illness. Eventually, the kids’ grandfather (Tom Hanks) arrives in town to offer his own form of support while clashing with the son-in-law that was never quite good enough for his daughter.

In the same narrative, Johansson plays Midge Campbell, a disillusioned actress (or an actress playing an actress) whose daughter (Grace Edwards) is another genius kid attending the convention. Midge and Augie share a morose connection; they don’t “react correctly” to their traumas and even struggle to “feel” at all when a spectacle blows into Asteroid City around the film’s midpoint. Outside the narrative, Schwartzmann’s actor-who-plays-Augie confesses to both the playwright and director that he “doesn’t understand the play” or the motivation for Augie’s unwavering stoicism.

Mind warped yet? Don’t worry. The storyline is relatively easy to follow thanks to Anderson’s stylistic choices that distinguish the story layers from each other.

More than any of his other efforts, “Asteroid City” is about loss and the ways people attempt to understand the unknowable. Not one to tackle such heavy themes head-on, Anderson still fills “Asteroid City” with quirky humor, deadpanning supporting characters and whimsical visual details and cultural references that will take multiple viewings to fully appreciate. The film also utilizes its deep bench of talent, including Steve Carell, Tilda Swinton, Live Schreiber and Jeffrey Wright, for comedic asides, and the young cast of junior astronomers hold the frame with as much charm as the leads of Anderson’s coming-of-age opus, “Moonrise Kingdom.”

Still, there’s something achingly solemn about “Asteroid City” as its story folds over onto itself. As much as “The French Dispatch” was about the creative choices made by writers and journalists, “Asteroid City” examines the plight of the actor who struggles to find meaning in art where it isn’t particularly obvious. It’s also exploring familial trauma in ways that recall the best moments in “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Through it all, Anderson seems to be examining the methodologies of his own storytelling. In many ways, “Asteroid City” is an explicit response to those critics who dismiss Anderson as style over substance. Maybe, as this movie begins to unravel in its final minutes, the style is the output of a filmmaker who keeps reaching for the unknowable.

Consider this review courtesy of a so-called “Wes Anderson defender,” someone who loves “The Life Aquatic” as much as “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Nevertheless, “Asteroid City,” perhaps with some time and subsequent viewings, could be the essential Wes Anderson film and the linchpin to appreciating his entire filmography.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.