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Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City, has landed on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital streaming platforms, and the presentation is as beautiful as it was when the film premiered in theaters, just two months ago. For folks interested in the physical product, the extras are not that extensive, but they shine with the charm of Anderson’s touch. Also, interestingly, two of the extra features that are included with the digital download code are not included on the physical product. The Blu-ray edition includes the Blu-ray disc, a DVD, and the download code, which can be redeemed through a variety of streaming platforms and subscription-based cable services.
For those who have not seen the film, it is a unique piece of storytelling. The ensemble cast includes: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, and many more. Naturally, Asteroid City embodies the signature visual and narrative elements to which Anderson’s fans have become accustomed — and which have collectively become a pop culture trope — but there’s something much different going on here. With The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Anderson utilized the story-within-a-story narrative device to the extent that the principal aspect of the story isn’t introduced until 10–15 minutes into the film. With The French Dispatch (2021), the director used the device to frame an anthology of episodes, which respectively embody the uniquely-styled sections of the fictitious, titular periodical. And if that style wasn’t divergent enough from a movie lover’s expectations of a formulaic-cinematic experience, then they’re in for a real treat with this humdinger.
While Asteroid City is presented as a three-act story-within-a-story-within-a-story [no typo there, folks], the central story is more of a meditation on life than it is a tidy 3-act package. With regard to the writing style, it has got a few drops of Laurence Stern’s Tristram Shandy (as well as, probably, inspiration from the filmic adaptation of that novel) and a decent amount of Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town. With regard to both of these classic examples of meta-storytelling, Asteroid City includes: characters acknowledging the fictional setting in which they find themselves (and interacting with the storytellers, who are also depicted) as well as the implication that the story elements — especially the mysterious ones — are metaphors for various uncanny aspects of life, in general.
Some of the characters, especially Schwartzman’s character — an actor who steps out of the principal story to confront the play’s director (Adrien Brody) — question their own motives while acknowledging that what they are doing [and, by extension, what Wes Anderson is doing] is experimental to a high degree, only to be consoled that they are doing fine, even if they don’t totally understand what’s going on. To jump a couple of meta layers up, I believe that what this means is that Anderson is framing the totality of human experience as people going about the tasks of their respective roles / vocations in life to the best of their abilities, and even when odd, unexplainable things happen, he is telling us that everything will be okay as long as we are true to our roles, and that is what the human experience is all about.
Obviously, the folks who go to the movies to see giant gorillas and lizards punching each other for an hour or so probably won’t vibe with this powerful, poignant, and absolutely delightful experience. But works such as this are enormously gratifying to experience, both to the extent that they paint a nuanced picture of the human experience (including accounting for that which is unknown) and to the extent that they do so with a sense of panache unique unto the given storyteller.
The video quality is brilliant. The movie is presented in its native 2.39:1 widescreen format — notwithstanding the portions of the narrative which were shot in 1.37:1, in black and white, to offer a distinct separation from the “play” that comprises most of the film’s running time. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround sound track does a wonderful job of bringing the audience into the environment of the film (there are also French Canadian and Latin American Spanish tracks available in DTS Digital Surround 5.1). And, the aforementioned limited extras are enjoyable but fairly minimalistic. None of the four making-of featurettes included on the Blu-ray are longer than three minutes, and each is essentially comprised of a montage of behind-the-scenes clips loosely narrated by Anderson. Overall, lovers of Anderson’s style and aficionados of meta-fiction will appreciate this colorful production and Universal’s humble but respectable presentation.
