Asteroid City
Cert: 12A | ★★★★✩

Wes Anderson’s brilliantly devised new drama comedy centres around a set of world-changing events at a 1950s space cadet convention in an American desert. The film is, in fact, supposed to be a stage play, written by a troubled playwright played by Edward Norton.

Frequent Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman is Augie, a recently widowed war photographer struggling to break the news of his wife’s passing to his unsuspecting children.

Arriving early to the Junior Stargazer convention with Woodrow (Jake Ryan), his gifted teenage son, Augie is stranded when his car breaks down forcing him to stay at the camp with the rest of his brood.

Scarlett Johansson as Midge Campbell in Asteroid City (2023)

Scarlett Johansson as Midge Campbell in Asteroid City (Photo: POP. 87 PRODUCTIONSFOCUS FEATURES)

The family meet Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), an apathetic actress famous for her work in TV plays, at the camp with her gifted daughter.

Things turn surreal when the convention is interrupted by an altogether otherworldly presence, and the guests are put in quarantine.

This film has Anderson’s trademark pastel-coloured lingering symmetrical shots and penchant for vintage chic, so often copied by amateur filmmakers on TikTok.

But this film has emotional depth that is harder to imitate. Broaching the subjects of grief, loneliness and existential dread with incredible precision, this is his most personal film to date.

It is peppered throughout with quirky nods to the 50s sci-fi B movie genre and enhanced by some truly outstanding performances.

With oodles of genuine tenderness and a cast list that reads like a real Hollywood Who’s Who — Tom Hanks, Adrien Brody and Tilda Swinton are just some of the names to also feature. Asteroid City is charming and funny, but for much of the time it also quietly devastating.