Why You NEED To See Asteroid City Again 

i think how good your kids were in the film was the only thing that all the critics could agree on, they were wonderful

Your kids talking over each other when the diner waitress calls them princesses was one of the most heart warming things I've ever seen lol

This masterpiece will be recognized as one of the top existential movies ever made. It just need few years more

I loveee the scene where augie and his children in the diner at the first time, the waiter ask the triplet what drink they want and calling them princesses. their response is sooo adorable and funny!! definitely are scene stealer

As a person with autism, who always feels as tho I’m having to play along with social scripts in life and “act” in some big play, this movie resonated with me on a deep level on a first viewing. Although my initial reading on the film was that it was a celebration of the artistic process and how important those things that happen behind the scenes, that most people never get to see, are to the final artistic product. Your reading and the context you provided has really given me A LOT to chew over on a second viewing so thanks for that! Also your daughters did such a great job!

I thought "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep" meant that we can't be present and experience life if we don't process what's happening by confronting both our feelings and our cognitive dissonance as the foundations of our reality and our beliefs are shaken. This is kind of illustrated by so many of the adults going through the motions and not dealing with the extraordinary events (just like so many did during covid).

I watched this movie in theaters on a whim. It was a beautiful film that touched me at my core and I left the film absolutely in love with it

What I felt was amazing was knowing the Asteroid City scenes were fake but being drawn in anyway and caring about the characters. I guess it is a statement about movies in general. We sit in the theater and know we are watching a work of fiction but get drawn in anyway and care about the lives of characters that are fake. I did not really think much about that until reviewing the movie a little. I did get the themes of grief and COVID in the theater. This is the type of movie that's going to grab people in different ways. I also felt Steve Carrel was hilarious in every scene he was in and laughed out loud when he sold the plot of land and then turned around and said it wasn't actually a plot of land he sold

I read the "fall asleep to wake up" line as a reference to the power of fiction, and giving oneself over to it as a means of fully realizing what it is to be human and real. I see that reflected in how the most fictional world (that of the play) was the one in full color and widescreen. Great video, though!

Went back today and saw the film another 2 times. I have now seen it 5 times! However today, I saw a new familiar face........ You did great in your little cameo as one of the "parents" on the TV screen! So cool of the production to let the real parents be part of the film.

I love how Anderson refuses to participate in the "suspension of disbelief" in the way that films are "supposed" to. It quite interesting to watch the film with that in mind.

Firstly, your daughters were totally amazing in this movie! Amazing acting and the synchronicity between them! I will remember their performance longer than anyone else’s. Your explanation makes total sense. I also at some point stopped trying to decipher what’s going on rather, I just let the movie take me for the ride but yes I accepted it has layers.

I will say I felt strange after the movie ended since what were seeing on screen has a deeper meaning, but the message to keep moving forward through whatever life throws our way really started to sink in as the movie progressed. Even when things don’t make sense we can’t dwell or avoid life. And if we “don’t fall asleep” and embrace these things in life we “can’t wake up” to keep going or progress. Hope that made sense 😅 My opinion is many won’t like this movie, but it hides a great message. I need to re watch some more Wes Anderson films now. Your kids really nailed their parts as well. They gave some comic relief for me. Definitely going to watch this again one day.

You are beyond gifted at breaking down complex symbolism in a gentle but structured way. I went through so many videos where people were just taking the movie at face value, not wanting to discern the deeper meaning, and when I found your video everything clicked into place. Thank you so much!! Such a deep yet humble thinker.

A second view untangled several sizeable knots from the first viewing. I enjoyed it both times - but differently. I paid attention to different things the second time and it allowed me to find my way through the sometimes baffling construction of things into some of the themes, details, and "ah-has" that were there all along. And those triplets! Well... they brought something special. It's as if the three of them combined to make one single character (since they were always together). You deserve to be a proud papa!

i just watched this and already want to watch it again, i was left so emotionally entangled in a way that i cant even explain, definitely one of wes anderson's best works.

We were lucky enough to see this 2x in the theater before the run ended. THIS is what want from a movie, to be intrigued, curious, moved, and very amused. I am so grateful for the writers, actors, artists that brought this to life. ❤ And the ‘you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep’ I took to mean that we die to our old selves, our old life, we can’t hold onto that if we want to learn from our grief. Similar to what you said- but we need to let the past go, to let our past die so we can live our present life. Still working on this idea…

I saw it in the theatres and twice at home with the subtitles on. I will say I thought your kids were great having one of my own. They brought a grounding to the film and actually being able to read what they said makes it better. There is a real problem with films with lots of dialogue that is fast pace and quiet or overlapping for me. So yes please watch this film again. I like your take on the we are all actors in our play and have to go through it and keep going. The "keep going" is obviously the meaning of this life to me. Congrats and maybe ask Wes if I can be in the next one because I am his biggest fan.

Thanks. I knew right away at the end of my first viewing of Asteroid City that I was missing something & that I would have to watch it again. Your framing of it & thoughts about it are very helpful to me. I'm going to see it again soon while your thoughts are fresh in my mind. Thanks again.

hello - it’s Kris your favorite set decorator - i enjoyed your take on the film - this was a pleasure - your insights are very thoughtful and inspiring ! i enjoyed meeting you and your fam and again at the premier fun to find you here :) best to you keep it up !!

By the time I finished AC, I realized it was a metaphor within a metaphor, with the metaphor beneath all that looking back at me while I saw it reveal itself - screaming. We need to get out, and live the metaphor of our lives that we must feel and experience. Stop being the viewer. Stop waiting for something else to change our lives. Stop fearing the mistakes we could make, and make them. Because that's what life is about, making mistakes.

One thing that really struck me and stayed with me about the film (only seen it once) was how “meaningless” so much of it was. To clarify, I mean things like the unfinished overpass that would have saved 0 time even if it were complete, the real estate vending machine that doesn’t reeeally sell real estate, the naming game played by these kid geniuses that has no foreseeable end cause they’re too smart, and Augie burning his hand on the hot plate for no real discernible reason (will get back to that point). And yet constantly the characters, and the fictional actors, are searching for meaning, and yet are unable to find it. All the authority figures fail them (the mechanic doesn’t know why the car’s broken, the scientists don’t understand the phenomenon they’re witnessing, the government is woefully unprepared for alien visit, and the religious leaders struggle to reconcile the incident with their own beliefs). Some believe that if they could just communicate with the alien, this apparent higher being, they might find the meaning of life, but honestly that’s unlikely too. It’s confusing and frustrating and it all comes to a head after the chaos of the 2nd visit when Augie’s actor just straight up says “I don’t get it” and walks off stage. This was the part that really hit me what the film was about. Life doesn’t make sense. Things don’t work how they seem like they should. The people we want to trust are sometimes as fallible as we are. Why are we here on this rock in space acting out these roles that seem to have no purpose. And like the director says, he doesn’t know either, but the show must go on. I think of the moment Augie, a character consumed by confusion and grief, burns his hand. There’s no benefit, nothing productive about hurting himself, but it’s like in that moment he just had to “act,” regardless of the consequences. The film really spoke to me about how we deal with grief and confusion in our lives, cause it can really seem hard to go on sometimes. But as the mantra at the end of the film goes, “you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep.” Everything passed, and we keep going, cause that’s what we gotta do. Loved the film.

Fantastic video! I loved that you took a deep dive into this film . Your words hit home in my life. 👍🏻

This is my favourite Wes Anderson film. I've seen all of them. English isn't my first language, so it's hard to explain how deep the emotional impact was. A truly amazing and profound experience. It untangled something in my heart and I couldn't stop crying. The feeling lingered for hours even after the movie had finished. The you can't wake up part made me feel so connected to everyone on screen, something just clicked and the tears started streaming down my face.

Hey bud! Great to meet you and the kids in NYC at the Alamo. Thanks so much for this video, it actually got tears out of me thinking through how much the film and its message mean to me. I’ve seen Asteroid City 5 times now and it keeps unfolding in new ways, so if two times isn’t enough KEEP GOING :) Totally agree about the existential nature of the film, and while the challenge to “just keep telling the story” in the face of loss and grief can be so hard but there is a lot of beauty in the process. Thanks again!

Catharsis is such a powerful thing. I felt it when the triplets were putting their mother's ashes in the desert sand. Also moments with the alien - especially the second time. And the spells and prayers the triplets were saying - I did wonder if they were improvised a tiny bit. [And Sorkin characters talk in this sort of very mannered way also - though there were parts in ASTEROID CITY where the characters were talking so so fast. And I think some people when they see the film again will make them talk even faster like 2.5x or like horse-racing callers].

Amazing video. As I had no one to talk to about the movie after I saw it. Watching this video felt like that post-movie conversation, as I paused throughout to have my inner dialogue about how certain scenes made me feel.

this made so much perfect sense and resonated with me so much, thanks for this analysis, appreciate the deep dive

thank you! very insightful and delightful review. subscribed~

Your take on this is spot on. Thank you

That's crazy your daughters were in it lol, they got some of the most consistent laughs from me. I just saw the movie for the second time and it really struck with me this time. This being the first live action Wes Anderson movie I've seen, I'm quite happy to see it in theaters, it was so pretty. I think my favorite scene might be the one with Margot Robbie as the wife, something about it just feels very ethereal

This is the best description of the movie I’ve heard besides myself trying to explain it to people who do not understand the depth of the film. Thank you for vocalizing the deeper meanings of life, living and then dying.

Great job on this man

OMG your kids were amazing in the film!!! I loved how confident all the lines were and how expressive the trio was Thanks for the long review too, I really feel you on wanting to talk with someone and get their opinions as well

Excellent analysis. Good Job.

Aw man, your kids were so awesome in the film. You must be really proud. Did not expect that when you started talking about the film. Its also awesome that you have still given an unbiased reaction to the film. So many of the points I agree with you on. I feel the fact that it's stated very clearly that what we're watching is a play a fabrication, kind of highlights the fact it isn't. Great video!

Great review and analysis. Thank you. I watched this on a large projector screen by myself so I could totally immerse myself in it. I absolutely loved this film and am excited to watch it again tonight. Besides being visually beautiful as Wes Anderson films are known for, it is a film that makes you think and I find it interesting how the actors are so deadpan yet convey so much emotion.

really nice. thank you

What i rky love abt asteroid city is it presents a lot to communicate a little. I think its Literally wes saying that life its some grand story, and sometimes you cannot see the story of your life. he takes style over substance to the mext level and uses that as a tool.

I really enjoyed the film. Your explanation actually brought me to tears, while the film found me smiling and giggling. So now I definitely need to watch it a third time. Thanks for your insights.

A perfect movie! Been waiting for some one to say what I felt about this movie being the meaning of life. How beautiful to portray it. Love love love Wes Anderson and this is a gem! ❤❤❤

Best analysis of this film I've seen, and your daughters were the best part of this film!

Been watching a bunch of reviews/analysis of this movie and enjoyed yours the most. Saw City with a couple fellow cinema nerds at the local Cinepolis but the projection suffered from technical issues (seems more common nowadays) resulting in a disengagement from the film leaving us all in utter confusion at what we just saw. Just purchased via Vudu, along with Isle of Dogs on sale right now, to watch for the second time tonight with the same friends in my dedicated home cinema and can't wait to enjoy the beauty of the film as it was intended and hopefully get more out of it....dawning our existential-poetic-meditation hats this time around of course.

Agree with your take… I have a lot of thoughts (seen it four times lol). The one piece I keep thinking about is when Augie burns his hand, which is the actor Jones key point of contention in the script, the way that scene finally plays out in the film leads me to think the actor Jones playing Augie ACTUALLY burns his own real hand on stage - this is based largely on Scarlett Johnanssen’s character’s reaction. She looks left and right as if looking for help and says ‘you really did it. That actually happened.” It seems like Schwartzman’s Jones wants so badly to understand the play that he literally puts himself through the self-inflicted wound of Augie’s sadness/lack of ability to process his grief. And then he STILL doesn’t “get” it. It’s a fascinating scene I haven’t seen any reviewers comment on yet, in a very multi-layered story filled with metaphors. ALSO, your kids were fantastic.

Did anyone else see a lot of David Lynch in this film? Existentialism, dreams, nuclear testing, 1950's Americana, supernatural/alien interventions, meta-commentary. Feltt like Wes Anderson's own version of Twin Peaks to me.

This is such a gorgeous analysis of the film. Thank you for sharing your vision of it! Regardless of how the authors intended the film to be, films are ultimately released to be in the hands of the viewer. Anyone can tell you a story, but no one can make you hear a certain sound. I love the direction that you found in this film and I will look for it in the future too. :) I got to watch it, on silent this time, for the second time last night. (I highly recommend at least one watch through of any film on silent!) It stuck it deeper in my head, as a writer and artist, that the film could be about the task and obligation of creation-even when it is fruitless, even when it's hard, even when you don't understand what you're doing either.

You discussed the possibility of being taken out of the movie when thinking of Steve Carrel as characters he's know for, etc. I think that's kind of the point in the cast he's chosen. We are watching actors in a play. So to think, "Oh, that's Forest Gump (or Tom Hanks), I think that's fine (and encouraged) and reinforces the whole meta metaness.

Good point about all of us having our plays and scripts. And all those easter eggs too.

I just watched the movie and noticed you on the Tv xD and came searching on your channel if you talk about it hehe Pretty cool!

This is all exactly what I took from the film too!! Feeling validated 🙏 My friend I saw it with thought it was too busy/random but it felt like it in a way uses dream language/symbology to communicate the message

Just went to see this yesterday. First of all, Congratulations your kids were amazing in the film. I love how the diner scene they refused to be called princesses. Wow. What an honour. I think this film is, if not, the best Wes Anderson film (Rushmore always has my heart). It’s a modern Samuel Beckett “Waiting for Godot” - although highly stylised and with a lot more characters - stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a play within a play, searching for meaning of life, but there is no answer!

Great review of a multilayered tour de force by a genius. Deserves multiple viewings to appreciate the level of detail and texture to this poetic reflection on the human condition. I was gobsmacked when the final line appeared "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep". In many eastern and non-dual teachings the belief is that we are all actors here to play our chosen roles in a divine comedy. Each of us are part of this illusion of separation that could only work if we have fallen asleep to our true nature as the All, everything, that which can't be understood, only manifested in the dream we call life. Our only purpose is to make the "most" of this miraculous mystery while enjoying the ride. The greatest playwrights and poets have known this for millennia. A lucky few figure this out as we find our Wes Andersons.

You’ve convinced me to watch it again, I’ve been looking for a video like this since I’ve seen it. I’m not going to lie I didn’t like it, but not because i thought it was a “bad” movie, but because I couldn’t understand his message Thank you for this

Thanks!

Yes. I agree. Need to see it again, but even the first time I had to make myself watch the whole film.

your children were excellent in the film. Bravo to them! I have seen it 3 times in 2 days. Spectacular film, and I think one of my favorites ever. there seem to be endless facets to this movie that you can dig into. I love how the characters often paralell the actors, like Johannson "being quite the comedian!" when given the right role. her character does deliver quite a bit of humor! Your daughters also participate in this when they ask Tom Hanks "who is that old man?". I believe it's meant to be a bit of a reference to Tom Hanks being a bigger star among an older generation and younger people in the theater literally not recognizing the actor who just walked into frame.

Thanks - that was a really interesting and usefull set of ideas. I enjoyed the film enormously but, like many, was confused by the "can't wake up" bit at the end. I feel I have more idea about that now. As for your daughters - they were fabulous and just a little terrifying :-)

This was by far my favorite movie by Wes Anderson, happy he's come such a long way

Thank you for framing this around that concept "a poetic meditation on the meaning of life" - that is the perfect summary. After the film I thought about how life is chaotic and meaningless, and it is up to us to give it order and meaning (and each interpretation is different according to your worldview). The point you made about these well known actors messing with your ability to see them in their current role really made me think about how that is how we go through life - people think of us one way based on how we typically show up in the world but then there are other parts of our character and who we are that might come to the surface at times. I've always loved that line about all the world being a stage and we are all the players because it is so true. BTW your triplets were excellent - they definitely stole some scenes in this movie!

Great commentary. First visit to you. Your daughters were outstanding in this.

Excellent discussion about this movie! Really enjoyed it.

He's made a film that requires you to think, and the audience for that kind of thing has vanished

Your kids were a pleasure to work with. We all enjoyed having them on set.

I really like this format of film analysis for you. I know it's not your typical subject matter, but I'd love to see you do similar videos on other enigmatic movies. As for Asteroid City, I loved it, and I think your take on it seems pretty spot on. I need to see it again with some of your thoughts in mind. The one thing we noticed, like you mentioned, was the quarantine seemed to parallel Covid quite a bit. Not just the lockdown, but people's response to the order. Some complied immediately, others defied it to varying degrees. Some believed the Alien was real, others had varying levels of belief. A teacher is shown teaching in a remote location, with the parents (including one quite handsome dad) watching the class remotely through a screen During the lockdown, Jason Schwartzman and Scarlet Johansen communicate through their windows, which felt very much like a Zoom call. And I'm sure there's more. Anyway, loved the movie, loved your thoughts. Keep up the good work!

This was my very first Wes Anderson movie and despite feeling confused and stuff, I loved every second of it! I’m absolutely getting this on Blu-Ray as soon as it’s available! That being said, I think I might need to watch other Anderson movies to have a wider range of films to analyze and compare and contrast. I think I’ll watch Grand Budapest Hotel next and then Fantastic Mr. Fox! I’ve wanted to watch an animated Wes Anderson movie so badly! Speaking of which, (Spoiler Alert) the alien in this movie is my spirit animal!

I loved your review, it make me realise how awesome this thing is

Wonderful summary of the film! I had a blast watching it. I definitely need to pick it up now that it’s on disc. And is there any chance you might’ve had a sneaky cameo in it? Also, I thought I was subbed! I am now!

You are So Right Loved it the first time watching it. Can't wait to see it again & again then Pick it up on Criterion Collection.

Came here for the break-down but OH-MY-GOD-YOUR-KIDS-WERE-SO-CUUUUTE ! 😄👏 You must be really really proud to have them play in a Wes Anderson movie ❤ What a treat! Now, I have to have my own kids play in the next one !! Anyway, I had to stop your video and tell you this. Now let‘s hear what you have to say (with your t-shirt I get the feeling that you already know what you‘re talking about 😅)

Jeff and I watched the movie finally tonight then we watched this to see what you had to say about it. Took awhile to get around to watching it. I didn’t want to watch in theaters due to the themes of grief in it. That can be a bit overwhelming for me sometimes. We had to just sit and talk it over for a long while after seeing. Your girls were so stinkin good! Absolutely adorable! Stole every scene they were in! “you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep” I saw it more as a PTSD metaphor. I saw it as moving through life you have to give grief a place. Like sleep in your grief, feel it deeply for a season, work through it so you can keep going better on the other side. If you try to press on and avoid the bad feelings you will be stuck in that day, stuck in the feelings. Kind of like a Groundhog Day. Doing it all over and over. You have to “fall asleep” and process it to be able to move onto the next day. I don’t know if that makes sense or is coherent. I’ll definitely have to watch it a second time because it is a lot to think about and I’m so not a film nerd.

I saw the film in the theater and once it got going, all I could think was “Wow!”. The ending sequence hit me like a hammer too. I love how the film is meta. The work of art a character is in is the universe that character exists or lives in. These characters get to step outside of their universe and ask the director (their god) what their roles mean and what the play means. Us humans don’t ever get to do that and find out with any certainty what the meanings or purposes of anything are. There’s no one to ask if “we’re doing it right”. There’s the scene where the actor steps out on the balcony and talks to an actress who played the wife and was cut from the play. That scene was beautiful. It was like two souls in the afterlife reflecting back and talking about their Earthly lives in a detached way (reminds me of "Our Town"). That character never gets closure in the play where he exists but got it outside of his play/existence on the balcony. The “you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep” comes in as how for example to be genuinely happy you have to have experienced being sad. To try to see the truth you have to have fallen for a lie. To appreciate beautiful things you have to have experienced ugly things. Perhaps one could say the purpose and meaning to be found in going through ugly, painful things is to provide you the experience to appreciate good, beautiful things. I really like Twin Peaks and I liked how that show was also philosophical and meta and played with reality the whole time as well. Nothing is really real, what seems real to us is because we live inside it and that's as real as the story to the characters in the story. Asteroid City is grappling with the same sort of thing to me-dealing with where meaning and creativity come from and how do we cope with pain and loss and those things themselves being meaningless. Life is like the play in the film, we aren’t sure what we’re doing or if we’re doing it right but we can’t stop doing it and still somehow the pictures always come out. Our roles mean everything to us in them and also nothing at all in the bigger picture. It’s definitely an existentialist poem and it’s absolutely beautiful.

Those girls stole every scene they were in. So cool, you should be crazy proud.

Coming out of the the theater I knew there was so much I didn’t understand and I’m so ready to see it again. It was a delight though. And speaking to No Country, my wife and I call it a perfect movie and I absolutely love the ending.

Your girls were freaking hilarious! Sooo cute and perfect comedic timing! ❤❤❤

Your kids were brilliant and made my heart warm everytime they were on screen ❤️

Currently watching Vito's "Christmas Gaming With VITO!" and he mentioned your kids were in this film. They were great. The film's a total delight. Totally gonna peep your channel, dude. E: I just saw the film, last night.

Sold and spot on. Great interpretations.

thanks Mort , I have just finished watching it again and it resonates even more .Looking for answers in an an infinite universe is fruitless We experience but cannot contain it , nor should we try . Our fear of the infinite stops us from participating in it .And good luck with your three wonderful witches .

I already watched 3 times and I plan to watch it again! 😁Just loved it from the first time

To put the general audience’s disconnect simply: Asteroid City’s narrative is more theme-driven than driven by the characters. Here, the characters are a means to an end rather than the focus themselves. The viewers saying there are too many characters or there is no depth of character were probably expecting something more focused on a character arc, the typical character-driven movie.

Well now that I listened to your commentary, I think your guesses is as valid as mine. I personnally tried not to read too much into that particular movie. If anything I believe the movie to be a commentary about that whole Area 51 subculture which sprang after an event which has yet to be officially recognized. And what a defining event this should have been for man kind! But the questions remain : have we or have we not been visited by aliens? If so, why ? Could it be that they were only playing football with an asteroid ☄️ and they just wanted they ball back and crashed their UFO 🛸? Are they in our reality or are we in theirs ? Is this a dream or a platonic theater play we live in ? I do think Anderson just wanted to make a kind of postmodern Kurt Vonnegut type of a movie around that theme and make it as visually flat as possible (like a theatre play). It was both brilliant and obscure (wink wink) 🥰😉👍 I might discover new meaning into it when I watch it again, but for now, I‘m pretty content with having watched something like a colourful Edward Hopper painting of a movie ❤

Watched asteroid city for the first time last night and enjoyed it. Johansson and Schwartzman were excellent and your little girls were hilarious. You must be very proud and they should be proud of themselves too.

Your kids really played an amazing part in this movie!

I think the "you can't wake up unless you go to sleep" is really about us viewers being asleep in a dream world and saying that's okay, you can wake up and should wake up once done with sleep.

Hey Mort, great breakdown of the film. I haven't seen this film yet, however this would help me go into this film with a different mind set to watching a normal film. And when I say normal film I mean something that's just 'horror' 'action' 'romance' this sounds like it's a film of so many levels and different people will see and have different take aways from the film to someone else. Your description of the film is almost like talking about a piece of modern art. Some will see it as nonsense, then others will find a deep meaning to what they are seeing. Which is interesting to me. I will be able to see this film now, looking at it differently from the offset. Great vid dude. And well done to the girls 🙌

In the theatre there is a presentation style called theatricalism. It emphasizes how life itself is like a performance. It appears in plays when the attention is drawn to the nature of performance itself such as when characters begin acting or when there are performances within the play one is watching (like the players performing "The Mouse Trap" in "Hamlet"). Among other things, Anderson seems to tap into this style really thoroughly in this movie, even moreso than framing The French Dispatch as a magazine or The Royal Tenenbaums as a book in chapters.

0:14 well... Every Anderson movie is one you need to watch multiple times. His work is so layered and so thoughtful. When people tell me they don't get his movies or why his movies are so wonderful...it tells me they are people who don't want to use their brains while watching movies. Your daughters did a great job. Anderson is really great directing kids and young people. Really brings out their talents.

i really do think the reason why the film is a stage play is to divide between the 'stage' of the story about our life and off-stage as the heaven where all the writer, director and other staff members of the stage of life lives, it is also the only place where schwartzman's character can meets his deceased wife (in heaven) and can communicate with her as a way of dealing with his sadness. i think the stage play is about finding the meaning of life such as when schwartzman's character keep asking why his character puts his hand on the griller? and the writer (norton) and the director of the play (brody) - as gods because they are what we ppl thinks write and direct our lives - told schwartzman that they don't know as well. i think it is about living life and enjoy the present rather than diving too much into just finding the meaning and die without enjoying what you have because, just as hank's character said about his deceased daughter, the time is never right.

I've seen it twenty times and the whole film is all about grief.

I love the spur sound from the cowboy without them on. :)

First time here, loved the video! I like the way you picked it all apart. And your take on the movie relates a lot with me. I’m a fan of anthropology, ancient religions, and psychology. While watching this movie, the experience of life stood out a lot. As did, “You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep”. I think the alien has a lot to do with this. The alien seems to have multiple references tied to it, but the biggest one to me is the way it interacts with and effects the people. They start getting emotionally more real once the alien appears. I think this is one of the biggest meanings to the movie. The alien represents something of an oddity to us, as does the asteroid, but it’s an oddity that lasts as long as it’s there. Then the play itself seems to represent the conscious experience of Society itself. From the way it advances with knowledge, to the point where that knowledge is then used to create wealth, finally that wealth has distracted us all from the true meaning (as shown by the carnival rides near the end). This metaphor is honestly one of my favorites. Talking about how instead of looking inside our own selves for answers, we instead distract ourselves with experiences to mask how we truly feel. It almost seemed to me that the movie itself had its own subconscious. Being represented by the black and white narrative, but that also it acted as societies subconscious. A narrative on a narrative about a narrative. It was beautifully done. But then that still leaves the alien. And those how these are all tied up into a bow. The alien represents the idea of the unknown, and the beautiful technology we created in trying to understand it. But, the alien is actually us. Our subconscious. Our feelings. Our soul. In many more ways than one. This revelation was yelling at me after the photos were shown developed. Of both the alien and midge side by side. I actually believe the alien was the point of the story. And true understanding of within, is what led to the greatest discoveries of mankind, somewhere we started looking outwards. And we forgot what sleeping giants we are.

I just watched it for a second time (first time for my 15yo daughter). Not just here to say how great your kids were in it (and they were), but one of the things we discussed afterwards was how Wes always gets pitch perfect performances from child actors. Dying to know how.

I really enjoyed your analysis of the movie. I finally got to see it this past weekend, with very similar thoughts on it as well. The chanting scene at the end is one of my favorite moments in cinema this year. Since finishing the movie I have been thinking if it is preferable to be awake or asleep. To me the chant seems to suggest that "waking up" is equal to getting better, and "falling asleep" is equal to struggling through a difficult time. It seems like the color segments that depict the play are akin to a dream, and the black and white segments are closer to "reality." Yet, in reality, if we are asleep we aren't aware of our worldly troubles and pains, so is sleep not the preferable state to be in? I can't wake up without falling asleep, but should I even want to wake up? Like most Wes Anderson films, it leaves much to think about. I look forward to seeing it again!

Something I noticed on second viewing is that there is a parallel between Jones finding love with Conrad and him/Augie grieving. They were literally on opposite sides of the room and met in the center to kiss and make love. For the rest of the movie Augie and Jones are separated from other people visually, and I think that separation is supposed to show the grief both of them go through. In a way, both Augie and Jones have one last conversation with the person they loved. Augie with his wife and Jones with Conrad because he wrote the whole scene.

Love Wes Anderson films; looking forward to my first (and second watch)

As an artist and a film buff, I really appreciate that ASTEROID CITY is not a "what you see, is what you get" film. But, not everyone wants to work so hard to "get" a film. I enjoyed THE GRANDE BUDAPEST HOTEL far more.

Thank you for your in-depth review. My cousin and I have just come out of a screening and absolutely loved it (if not a little confused)

One more thing about Wes Anderson films. There is a lot going on and the pace can be overwhelming. I did watch 'The French Dispatch' and immediately knew I'd have to watch it again. Sometimes just because I know I missed something.

I watched this film today and knew I really loved it but haven't really been sure why. The only thing I was sure of, is that I would be watching it many more times. Your daughters were great!

Your kids were great super funny definitely towards the end where you need that last laugh before the ending