Noah Bray-Ali

Asteroid City took over the Landmark Sunset theater on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood for the premier this week. Costumes, sets, and even the concession stand sign (but confusingly not the 1950s era concession stand prices or food) from the film filled the lobby and mezzanine. I felt a kinship with Jeff Goldblum's character: The Alien. Perhaps that means the film was alienating. As a person of color who won fat checks in high school in science related contests (US Department of Energy Science Bowl, International Physics Olympiad, and so on), I was a little put-off by the lack of engagement between the teenage people of color in the film around their shared interests in science. There were a couple of scenes where they went around in a circle saying the names of scientists that they admire. However, the point of the scenes seemed to be that these kids have good short term memory for names rather than to make a space in the film for the characters to expand on the scientific work that they admire and to make connections between their very distinct and eclectic mix of scientific interests: plasma physics, jet propulsion, optoelectronics, astronomy, and more. One of the most memorable experiences from my time in high school doing these kinds of science deals came during an infinitely long layover at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. My team mates and I sat in a circle talking about the things we care about most in life and why we care so much about them. While I don't remember what I said or what they said in any detail, I do remember clearly the infectious laughter we shared for hours on end as we made a space in our lives and filled it with our shared interests in doing science. Somehow that feeling was what I hoped to find in Asteroid City (an unreasonable expectation, I know). Instead the main feeling you get from this film is the power of grief, a respect for the lost arts and crafts of acting, directing, and writing, and a general sense that we will soon destroy ourselves while taking much of the life on the planet with us. There were a couple hearty laughs for me in the film though I found myself laughing alone. Similarly others in the audience seemed to find release at moments where I did not. That seems to be the main thing to say about the film: you come together in a theater but somehow you leave feeling lonelier than when you came.