What’s it rated? PG-13
When? 2023
Where’s it showing? Colony, Downtown Centre, The Palm, Stadium 10
Now in their fifth go-around as co-writers, director Wes Anderson has reteamed with Roman Coppola (The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch) to pen this meta story about Tennessee Williams-esque playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton) mounting a retro-futuristic sci-fi dramedy play cast with a horde of 1950s-style Actors Studio-type thespians set in a meticulously creative and whimsical movie set replete with painted backdrops and Norman Rockwell-esque sets.
What’s it about? Who cares and who knows, but if you love Anderson’s studied aesthetics, you’re here for the surface, not the depth. There’s no question Anderson is a love-him-or-hate-him kind of filmmaker. Many find him too precious and arch to tolerate, and too purposely quirky to find any true human emotion in his stories. I get it. He’s not for you, and that’s OK.
I, on the other hand, love Anderson’s style, and he always manages to amass a cast of watchable actors who are always in on Anderson’s joke. There’re way too many threads to unpack in 200 words, but to me, the film celebrates humanity’s thirst to create, to find meaning beyond ourselves, and to make connections. (105-min.) Δ
This article appears in Jul 6-16, 2023.