I watched “Asteroid City,” a Wes Anderson movie that has two different facets: a documentary about the production of the play “Asteroid City” shown in black and white, and the actual play “Asteroid City” in full color. The play begins with war photographer Augie and his four children traveling to Asteroid City, a small fake desert town set in the 1950s. Asteroid City is hosting a convention for Junior Stargazers and Space Cadets from across the country to demonstrate their inventions and science prowess. At a viewing of a space phenomenon an alien appears and takes back the asteroid that Asteroid City is known for. The movie is shown in acts, and it cuts to the playwriting and production in between acts. Neither story is told or shown fully.

I liked watching this movie because it’s funny and interesting. It is the usual charming mix of weird, quirky, and awkward that Wes Anderson movies have. I love the vibrant color and setting of Asteroid City, and the personality in the children. The characters are all unique and have some sort of individual plot line going on. I love how cute and awkward the alien is despite never speaking. It’s interesting how the movie breaks the fourth wall– both the characters to the documentary and the movie to us.

My main problem with the movie is that I was confused in some parts because of the back and forth of the documentary/actors and the play/characters. This is also a character based film, not a plot based film, so the movie can get a little slow or boring in some parts.

The movie relates to doppelgangers and doubles because the movie itself has a double storyline- the play and the documentary. The two storylines seem unrelated but begin to intersect when the actors began to feel like their characters and question the meaning of the play. It also has doubles of every character due to the play– the actor and the character they play. In particular it applies to Midge, a character in the play who is a famous actress. Midge is an actress in Asteroid City, but she is played by the actress Mercedes in the documentary, who is Scarlett Johanson in real life. That makes the three triples of each other.

Content Warning: brief nudity