January Film Club

 Happy New Year! Here we are, another year, another lineup of great films. Let's get to it! To kick things off, I've decided to show the newest Wes Anderson feature film, Asteroid City.

Asteroid City is a 2023 American comedy-drama film written, directed and produced by Wes Anderson, from a story he wrote with Roman Coppola. It features an ensemble cast, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan  and Jeff Goldblum. Its metatextual plot simultaneously depicts the events of a Junior Stargazer convention in a retro-futuristic version of 1955, staged as a play, and the creation of the play. It is Anderson's homage to popular memory and mythology about extraterrestrials and UFOs witnessed in the Southwestern desert in close proximity to atomic test sites during the post-war period of the American 20th century.

The film currently holds a certified fresh rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and Glenn Kenny, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave it 4/4 stars saying this in his review, "All of the film's action-and there's so much of it, and all of it revels in the joy of creation, of performance, of human invention that seeks a cosmic splendor-eventually concentrates on the banal and yet all-consuming question, "what is the meaning of life?" of course, the movie's characters don't always put the inquiry so plainly. Here it takes the form of the statement, articulated like a plea: "I don't understand the play." Followed by the heartbreaking query, "Am I doing it right?" Asteroid City portrays a gorgeous gallery of people in various guises, performing art and performing life, all trying to do it right."

We will be meeting Thursday, Jan. 25 at 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXCSXuGTF4

Hope to see you there!