Gail Stewart

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson are terrific. The plot is good and moves forward. Never a dull moment and excellent character development. The show is a win-win.

I went to see Asteroid City last night and it unnerved me. I had a restless feeling during the film and then I didn't sleep for several hours after my bedtime when I got home. This morning, describing the film to my best friend, I realized that the film was discordant because it was about alienation. In many of the scenes the players aren't really talking to each other. Everyone in the film has a reason for experiencing distance between themselves and the others in the film. Everyone is alien, least so the alien that visits them. The lead character Augie, and the lead female played by Scarlett Johansen, communicate with each other through the windows of their close but detached rental spaces. They muse on what is happening in their minds, and their lives, but they don't really respond meaningfully with one another. This is true in almost every interaction in the film. There are few hopeful moments in the film. There is a moment when a student in a class, where the teacher teaches a subject so alien and foreign that the children just ask about an experience where they encountered the alien (which was meaningful), starts to sing and dance. This is one of the few scenes with social cohesion. The other scene is at the end of the film, where the playwright talks about the value of having the whole cast fall asleep. At this point the cast one by one state, 'you can't wake up if you don't fall asleep.' They get up and start walking away. Here they have a collective sense/idea. I flashed on the play Our Town, when I watched this film. Anderson is clearly trying to communicate something to us about alienation and waking up to ourselves and each other, but the film is oblique. Hopefully a second viewing when this film comes to home streaming will help fill in the gaps. I really enjoyed the film and look forward to seeing it again, even if it stirred some level of discomfort.

This was a good thriller that I liked and my hard to please husband liked as well.