Asteroid City
Perhaps some might see the narrative structure as overly complicated without sufficient justification, but to me the film did seem to have one principal theme, and to announce it loud and clear: “you can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep” (intoned by practically the whole cast and sung during the end credits by Jarvis Cocker).
In other words, reason, far from being the opposite of delusion, is the potential for synthesis that opens up only on the basis of those dreams that give to the understanding its orientation and its motive – its reasons. To be able to dream requires letting go of consciousness, and through that brings the risk of delusion and distraction, but only in this way can we enter the mysteries that grant the possibility of such orientation and desire. This relates both to the coming together of players to play what has been written, and to the brainiac kids entering into questions that surpass their supreme cleverness. In short, Anderson is telling us why we, clever movie-going types, should not object to the apparently frivolous nature of his storytelling, and should instead ask whether and how the quirky and dry tales the filmmaker tells with a surfeit of style might in fact be initiating us into a genuine cinematic mystagogy. Plus some parts are very funny.
In other words, reason, far from being the opposite of delusion, is the potential for synthesis that opens up only on the basis of those dreams that give to the understanding its orientation and its motive – its reasons. To be able to dream requires letting go of consciousness, and through that brings the risk of delusion and distraction, but only in this way can we enter the mysteries that grant the possibility of such orientation and desire. This relates both to the coming together of players to play what has been written, and to the brainiac kids entering into questions that surpass their supreme cleverness. In short, Anderson is telling us why we, clever movie-going types, should not object to the apparently frivolous nature of his storytelling, and should instead ask whether and how the quirky and dry tales the filmmaker tells with a surfeit of style might in fact be initiating us into a genuine cinematic mystagogy. Plus some parts are very funny.
Mini Review: Principal theme: “you can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep”. Reason is not the opposite of delusion but the potential that opens up only on the basis of those dreams that give to the understanding its reasons. Only by letting go of consciousness can we enter the mysteries that grant the possibility of orientation and desire. Instead of objecting to the apparently frivolous nature of his storytelling, we should ask whether his dry tales might in fact be initiating us into a cinematic mystagogy.
