ASTEROID CITY – Review by Sarah Vincent

Shot in black and white on a black box theater set in a 1957 television studio, Wes Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman plays actor Jones Hall, who seduces playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton) after landing the role of Augie Steenbeck in Earp’s latest play, the titular Asteroid City. This intimate backstory is one of several behind-the-scenes vignettes about the production of Earp’s final work, which is shot in color – a dreamy, Southwest-evoking palette of teal, orange and tan. A recent widower, single dad and former war photographer, Augie is one of many offbeat parents taking their gifted children to the 1955 Junior Stargazer convention. A brief extraterrestrial visit interrupts the proceedings, triggering a government-imposed quarantine with no travel and no communication with the outside world and sparking a widespread crisis about the meaning of life.

During lockdown, an attraction develops between Augie and Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), a fellow Stargazer parent and renowned Golden Age star. As the play approaches the final act, the line between the framed black-and-white now and Earp’s play gets increasingly blurred until Schwartzman’s Hall breaks character in a desperate bid to understand the significance of Earp’s swan song. Along the way he bumps into another actor (Margot Robbie), who is working on a different project but was supposed to play Augie’s wife. It’s a strange, poignant moment, one of many scenes that has Anderson’s multilevel balancing act folding back in on itself. Continue reading…