Asteroid City : Review

Anderson latest subversive sci-fi is a bit too pleased with itself 

As I was walking out of my screening a very dapper gentleman, dressed to the dozens as if he were a part of the wes anderson ensemble himself, turns to me and exclaims “now that was just brilliant, it feels like he’s back on track after the french dispatch”. I laughed and nodded in agreement as to fulfil my social cue, but in that moment it really struck me. a lot of people, fans especially, didn’t like The French Dispatch, whilst I regard it to be one of if not his best live-action creation. 
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Comparatively, Asteroid City really didn’t work for me. so i find myself further pondering the thought - has Wes Anderson lost his touch? well i don’t think that’s a fair enough assessment to make after one recent mediocre effort but Asteroid City unfortunately proves his recent critiques to be true. A film that simultaneously pokes fun at its own existence, but sorely misses the quirk, whit and whimsy of Anderson’s usual approach and offers little to nothing to connect with. 
Constructed with as much visual panache as we’ve come to expect, asteroid city revels in the pastel landscape of a desolate 50s road stop town, but the story feels equally barren. Whereas The French Dispatch carefully toed the line of wes anderson's indulgent sensibilities, this practically swallowed itself up with self-congratulatory effect. 

In Anderson’s atomic age outing there’s a noticeable lack of attention to character and narrative. in the latter half it becomes clearer that Anderson is operating at his most self-referential, but in the meantime I found myself struggling to understand its ambiguously dry approach. A tale of discovery and our constant quest to find meaning that cleverly tips its hat to Anderson naysayers, but it feels slightly more smug than slick. As delectably precise its retro mise-en-scene may be, there’s barely enough substance to justify its overly self-indulgent approach.