Glasgow Film Theatre anticipates Asteroid City with a summer of Wes Anderson
Fantastic Mr Fox, Rushmore and The Grand Budapest Hotel have all been on at the cinema.
The Royal Tenenbaums was shown at GFT on 35mm film. Photo credit: Brian.
Cinemasters: Wes Anderson, the latest season at Glasgow Film Theatre (one of many similar programmes currently celebrating the filmmaker), is a reminder of the director’s resonance before Asteroid City hits screens on June 23rd.
The film, starring Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie and Maya Hawke, is Anderson’s 11th and will likely follow his trademark aesthetic.
What makes Wes Anderson a good subject for the season, and why do his films still draw in audiences decades after the director’s first premiere?
Ahead of the release, GFT is taking the opportunity to revisit all 10 of Anderson’s films. They’ll be showing throughout the summer with special introductions and talks going into May, June and July.
The unwavering popularity of films like The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom is likely down to viewers knowing what they’re getting into. A name like Anderson’s is an automatic stamp of approval for film lovers.
Stilted dialogue, pastel colours, strained family dynamics and French music are the distinctive traits that make a Wes Anderson movie.
A poster at GFT, advertising the programme featuring Suzy (Kara Hayward) from Moonrise Kingdom (2012), one of the films on at the cinema this summer. Photo credit: Lauren Burns
Kim Wilkins, a Postdoctoral Film Fellow at the University of Oslo, has written extensively on Anderson’s films.
Wilkins explained that a type of “eccentric” American filmmaking began in the late 90s with Anderson alongside the likes of Charlie Kaufman.
“More than lines of dialogue, I’d say Anderson’s films, and American eccentric cinema more broadly, evince this oscillation between hope and hopelessness and so on,” she said. “Between wanting to push out of constraints to true connection with others and the world, but doing so from a position where that world is so obviously artificial—that is so clearly designed as sealed off from “reality”—the sort of dollhouse.”
Anderson is known for aesthetics and symmetry, while his deft storytelling tends to be overlooked.
When asked about the style over substance criticism, Wilkins described it as: “a bit of an odd one because style and substance are inseparable when we think about how films make meaning. We understand what a film means by way of its style—how it presents its world to us tells us what that world is and how it operates.”
As well as a summer of Wes Anderson movies, Glasgow FIlm Theatre on Rose Street has a full schedule of upcoming events. Photo credit: Lauren Burns.
“It hasn’t hurt his career that his style is very recognisable,” Wilkins continued. “It favours almost-symmetrical set-ups, to-camera address, block colours (particularly retro-style pastels) and therefore is very marketable. Nor does it hurt that this particular aesthetic lends itself to stills shareable on social media, particularly Instagram.”
Social media is suddenly obsessed with the director. It’s become a trend to film an ordinary day like you’re in one of his films, showing his popularity is far from waning.
“I think Anderson has, over time, sort of become more of himself stylistically,” Wilkins said. “I’m keen to see if Asteroid City continues in this line.”
“What’s on?
10th June: Fantastic Mr Fox
11th-14th June: Moonrise Kingdom
18th June: The Grand Budapest Hotel
20th June: (preview) Asteroid City
21st June: The Grand Budapest Hotel & Discussion
23rd-29th June: Asteroid City
25th June: Isle of Dogs
2nd-5th July: The French Dispatch”
by Lauren Burns
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