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Hola amigos, buenas vibras para todos.
**Hello friends, good vibes to all.
Lately I'm realizing that there are a lot of movies out there to keep an eye on, I think we are going through a brutal overexposure of films and I feel like I have less and less time to catch up. Films that I decided not to see in the theater like Flash, Transformers and others that I would like to enjoy in a theater like Oppenheimer or Barbie. The thing is that within this group of productions I feel that the least talked about or less media coverage is precisely this one, Asteroid City, a film in the best style of this American director and with a cast that is one of the best I've seen in a long time in a movie.
As my user here, I am a photographer, something that "links" me a little to the story of this film (you will know why), and as such I can not explain the visual pleasure that for me represented to enjoy each and every one of the scenes that we can see in this film. I also feel that this film is not for everyone because with Wes Anderson something happens, you hate him or you love him, but there are no medium tints and I say this because I know people who could not with this one, they were not able to see more than 10 minutes of this story and that's fine, as I said tastes are very varied in cinema. I don't know if I liked it more than "The Grand Budapest Hotel", I don't think so, but even so I wasn't completely disappointed either. So without further ado let's talk a little bit about what this new work of Anderson is.
This story takes place in a totally fictitious town in the middle of the desert in the United States called Asteroid City, so called because apparently a meteorite fell thousands of years ago and as good Americans you have to take advantage of absolutely everything. Suddenly, several families start to arrive to this place because an astronomy convention is being held in which gifted young people and teenagers present their different projects. During this event we will meet several characters, quite particular and eccentric, who will involve us in their lives exposing different situations, thoughts and ways of seeing the world, all under a lens full of comedy, drama and quite witty dialogues.
Among the relevant characters we have Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) who is a war photographer who is having a major paternity crisis, Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) an actress who all she wants in the world is to be famous, even more than her own daughter, Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks), Augie's father-in-law, a retired man with money who never liked his son-in-law and a long etcetera. The thing is that the life we are witnessing of all these characters will be interrupted by a specific event that will eventually change, more or less, the world as it is known. From here on we will continue to delve into the personalities of everyone but this time with the topic of conversation of this event in the mind of each one.
Within this film there are two things I would like to touch on: the way in which topics such as parenthood, society, free press, how governments control information, loneliness, how to be happy and be at ease with oneself are approached; all topics that are deep in principle but here in a very peculiar and even satirical way are exposed so that one as a viewer seeks to understand them in the most extravagant way possible. Behind each character there are certain charges that make them super interesting and is what gives depth to the story; it is very likely that when you see the film you feel bored and are tempted to remove it but this is when I tell you not to do it, it is true that it can be a little slow and heavy, but you have to understand that this is not commercial cinema, at least that's how I understand it.
The film lasts a little less than two hours, time in which I personally never got bored, I found fascinating the interaction of the characters, the dialogues, the way they perceive the world, the storms that are created in their own minds without being real problems and behind everything there is a slight comedy, very subtle, that made me laugh a couple of times and I appreciate that. Another of the labels of this film is that it is science fiction, if we get technical we would have to say that if it is, for me it does not fall much into that genre, the fact that I mentioned earlier that changes everything is pure SciFi but something just minutes is not enough to define an entire film, maybe I'm wrong.
Finally I want to talk about all the aesthetics, design, cinematography, photography and everything that has to do with visuals. The handling of the sequences laterally, from one side to the other and from top to bottom, the framing of the shots and the fact that in the same shot there are two actions happening at the same time, for me, is the best thing achieved in this film. I don't see a single mistake in Anderson's vision and what he wanted to show, I repeat, for me as a photographer everything I saw was spectacular. The saturation, the pastel colors, the extravagance and the contrast that sometimes we see between the environment and the clothing is another of the things very well achieved. So yes, if you are lovers of everything that has to do with these audiovisual aspects, don't miss this film, it's a real gem in that sense.
The characters, as I said, are very particular and eccentric. I forgot to mention actors like Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Margot Robbie, Tilda Swinton, Hope Davis, Maya Hawke, the truth is that the casting of this film is really crazy and talking about each one would take forever. What I can say is that each one, in essence, has their charm and personality that makes them unique. There are no bad performances, at least that's how I perceived them, each one is worth appreciating. An extra detail that I can tell you as a healthy spoiler is that for me the best scene of the film is the one starring Margot Robbie, as expected. And watch out for Augie's three daughters, they steal the show on more than one occasion.
A very particular film that I personally enjoyed quite a lot. I give it a 7/10 because I didn't like it as much as I expected despite being a Wes Anderson fan. Despite everything it has the characteristic elements of him as a director and those being like his signature make the film have some value. It has a running time of one hour 45 minutes that goes like a roller coaster. I'll leave the trailer below so you can take a look at it.
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Bueno mi gente por hoy es todo, espero que les haya gustado. ¡Un abrazo a todos, nos vemos en la próxima!
***Well my people that's all for today, I hope you liked it. ¡A hug to everyone, see you next time!