EthicalBanana

The other thing she said was 'time heals all wounds.' No. Maybe it can be a band-aid."

I've seen Asteroid City twice in the span of 12 hours. The first time I could tell I loved it, but I was still left with so many questions and not enough resolutions. Upon rewatch, I was able to follow both plot lines, understand some themes, and have an overall better experience. However, after both viewings one question kept running through my mind as I'm sure is the same for so many others: what is this movie about?" Sure, it's about an alien making contact during a junior stargazer and space cadet award ceremony, but what is the actually story saying?

In many ways, Asteroid City is about family grief, and different ways to cope with it. After the Steinbeck's lost they're beloved wife/mother, Augie gets lost in his passion of photography and slips into a love affair out of lost hope. Woodrow begins to desperately search for existential answers, perhaps just to take his mind off his sadness, and the girls pretend to be witches and host a burial service where they cast spells to bring their mother back. In the case of the Campbells who are struggling with family problems, Midge takes a solely nihilistic point of view to the movie's main theme, (more on that later) and her daughter struggles to find her place in life, and "feels more comfortable outside of the Earth's atmosphere." Wes Anderson takes these relatable themes and applies them affectively to the rest of the story and to the movie's overall cosmic theme.

For example, after his mother's death and experiencing an alien encounter, Woodrow, (who previously believed in a God or other celestial being) begins to think life is too random and unpredictable to have any greater meaning. Augie has a similar revelation which caused him to spontaneously burn his hand on a Quicky grill just because he is capable to. However this theme doesn't stop in the Asteroid City story. After he burned his hand, the actor for Augie leaves the set to find some answers. So, he marches to the director, (not the writer) and asks him in desperation: am I doing it right? The actor doesn't understand his character, and how can he do what he doesn't understand? But this is exactly what the director (not the writer) wants, and so he responds by saying that he is playing his character perfectly. He doesn't need to understand it, just keep telling the story. Yet again, this themes doesn't stop in even this part of the story. We can take this one step back and realize this is a common theme in the real world too. Most of use have had similar questions about our place in the universe. Why do we do what we do? What is the purpose of our actions? (Briefly: I said "not the writer" intentionally because I have a theory that the director represents the world and how the world's selfish opinions affect so many people in it. The director makes you believe you're a good person and that you are absolutely perfect, but the writer (God) has more judgement than that.)

Somehow, I think the theme of Asteroid City is Nihilistic, Existentialist, and theist at the same time. It makes the case that life is too unpredictable to mean anything, and that it doesn't matter what we do as long as we keep living life (nihilist). It says that we make our own decisions and that we need to uphold our own story (existentialist.) And it encourages humanity to stick together and keep looking for answers (theist). There isn't an objectively accepted answer to the universe, but we minus well keep trying. Personally, I believe in one true Christian God, but that doesn't mean I won't keep searching for the truth. As Matthew McConaughey said in Contact when he was asked if he believed an atheistic scientist: "As a person of faith I am bound by a different covenant then Dr. Arroway. But our goal is one and the same: the pursuit of truth."

At first I was indifferent about giving this four or four and a half stars, but I like thinking and I love movies that make me think, and I think it's clear that I've been pondering this movie a lot recently, and I don't think that will stop soon. Therefore I rate this film a hardy 4.5.

Visuals: 10/10. Sound design: 10/10. Storyline: 10/10. Where this film loses me is primarily the storytelling and dialogue. Some things happened in this movie that just felt odd and out of place. Some characters said/did things that made me feel like i had missed a huge part of the movie. The dialogue was a huge reason that the storytelling was inadequate. All the characters feel, though seemingly on purpose, extremely stiff and nothing they say flows at all. However, like I said, that was probably Hlynur Palmason's intention for the movie is an adaption of simple photographs which is evident in the cinematography. This film is not really a movie so much as a slideshow, which, although it makes for stunning photography and a unique shtick, makes the characters less relatable. However, I must say there were moments near the end where a felt a strong bond with the protagonist that I hadn't expected throughout the first hour and a half.

First of all, the soundtrack is phenomenal. That's nearly universally agreed upon. Secondly, the rest of the film only resonates with the viewer, if the viewer is a "dreamer." In other words, you'll love it if you can relate to it. It's not like Star Wars, where you don't need to be a space pilot/acrobat to love it, its universally loved. Lala Land is for the people who struggle with their own creativity. It inspires you to reach for the stars, to accomplish your wildest dream, and find your perfect life. But my favorite part is that it also shows that your life doesn't need to be perfect in order to be content. Even if you don't accomplish all of your dreams, you can still be happy. We live in a world where it is brainwashed into our brains to "dream big" and "be the best you." But lala land alternatively suggests that you shouldn't only have one dream to strive for, and accomplishing one of those goals can lead to an ideal life. This message is, however, MOSTLY true, coming from a christian perspective. Overall, the movie gives a unique view of a "perfect life" or, in other words, a "Lala land."