[Movie] "Asteroid City (Directed by Wes Anderson / 2023)"
Data
Original Title: Asteroid City
Director: Wes Anderson
Production Year: 2023
Country of Origin: USA
Aspect Ratio: 1:2.35
Runtime: 1h 45m
Release Date: September 1, 2023
Viewing Date: September 9, 2023
Distributor: Parco = Universal Pictures
Impressions
The following is a repost of an article posted on mixi on September 9, 2023.
A drama with a terrifyingly convoluted structure that depicts the process of a stage play called "Asteroid City" being broadcast on television.
The scenes preparing for the stage play broadcast on TV are in black-and-white standard format, a re-experience of television broadcasting at the time (set in 1955).
On the other hand, the parts corresponding to the reproduction of the stage play are expressed in color and CinemaScope. It is set in a rural town in the American Midwest, which is known for a huge crater caused by a meteorite fall. In reality, it was location-shot on an open set built in Spain. Is this the old Spaghetti Western method?
I thought it would be a style that depicts the backstage (non-fiction) and the play (fiction) in parallel, but there is also a scene where the protagonist, who has hit a wall with his role in the fictional world, goes to ask the writer backstage about the intention of the work, which makes it confusing.
Writing it like this makes it sound like a directionless, thoroughly self-indulgent work, but in reality, I was drawn into the movie more and more. I finished watching the movie with the feeling that I didn't want it to end, that I wanted to keep watching it forever.
So, it was a work that left me with an unparalleled sense of happiness after I finished watching it. The pamphlet contains various deep-reading explanations, and while I thought they made sense, I also felt they weren't really necessary.
Even so, I was overwhelmed by the magical composition of the opening. I want to rewatch just this part. This thoroughly technical beginning is unique.
I liked his early works like "Royal Tenenbaums" and "Life Aquatic," but with "Grand Budapest Hotel" and "French Dispatch," the style has become even more to my liking, and Wes Anderson has become one of the few directors whose new works I can look forward to.
Postscript (Feb 14, 2026)
Overview and Comments
The TV broadcast parts are in black-and-white and standard size (should I call it CRT size?), and the drama parts (the parts that depict the stage play cinematically) are in color and CinemaScope size. The former is noted as BW/SD, and the latter as C/CS.
Start of the TV Program (BW/SD)
The "WXYZ-TV Channel 8" mark is displayed. On stage, a spotlighted host (Bryan Cranston...) introduces "Today's TV Program".
The host is played by Bryan Cranston, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Dalton Trumbo in "Trumbo (2015)."
The content depicts the creative process of a new stage play, "Asteroid City," written for TV by writer Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), and although everything including the stage and characters is fictional, the host explains that it "faithfully reproduces the behind-the-scenes of modern theater."
Then, Earp is introduced, typing on a typewriter with a cigarette in his mouth. The host declares, "Watching a man type is boring... I'll skip the months of creative agony and move on."
Then, it becomes the first reading session with the theater troupe, and from here on, Earp explains the setting with the finished manuscript in hand. He specifies the set, background, etc., in detail, and briefly explains the actors and their roles.
And when he explains that the setting is September 1955, in three acts, "Act 1: Friday morning at 7 o'clock," "Act 2: The next day," and "Act 3: One week later," the lights go down and faint music begins to play.
Opening (C/CS)
When the screen cuts, it becomes a warm-colored CinemaScope screen, and the opening credits begin to roll to the tune of Johnny Duncan and the Blue Grass Boys' "Last Train to San Fernando (1957)." For some reason, this song by Johnny Duncan seems to have been a big hit that reached number 2 on the UK charts.
The coolness of scrolling the staff and cast credits on the right while cutting between 650 freight trains speeding through the desert! I was won over right here.
The freight train is loaded with fruit, tractors, a Pontiac, and a 10-megaton nuclear warhead, with a close-up of a warning label reading "Do not detonate without presidential approval."
As the train slowly passes the railroad crossing and the camera pulls back, a sign reading "Asteroid City, Population 87" comes into view.
The camera pans to show a diner, a phone booth, a motel (no vacancies), a gas station, and a meteorite sign (noting it "fell here approximately 5,000 years ago"). Everything is exactly as Earp described at the beginning.
Act 1, Scenes 1-3 (C/CS)
The Steinbeck family car arrives at the gas station, towed by a tow truck.
Jason Schwartzman, a regular in Anderson's films, plays the father, Augie. It's a funny scene where he tries to light his pipe despite being near gasoline, only to find his lighter is out of fluid, so he asks the attendant to pour some gas on it.
When he enters the diner with his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three daughters, the ground shakes. A regular tells him, "It's just another nuclear test," and when Augie looks outside, he sees a mushroom cloud in the distance.
Augie takes his car to the auto repair shop to have it looked at. The mechanic (Matt Dillon) tells him it won't be an easy fix.
Matt Dillon, while still retaining traces of his former teen idol self, has developed a dignified look that slightly resembles Charlton Heston in his prime.
Augie enters a phone booth and calls his father-in-law, Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks).
Here, the screen splits in two; on the right, the secretary who answered the phone goes to fetch Zak, while on the left, Augie witnesses a car chase between a getaway car and a police car right in front of him. Both the left and right sides are filmed in a single take.
Augie tells his father-in-law Zak about the car trouble and asks him to come pick up the girls. He also explains that they came to Asteroid City for Woodrow to participate in the "Junior Stargazer Convention."
Augie and Zak then have a private conversation, during which the shots are angled from the right for Zak and the left for Augie, making it look as if they are talking face-to-face. This exchange conveys that Augie has lost his wife and that his relationship with his father-in-law is strained.
His father-in-law agrees to come pick up the girls.
I felt that Tom Hanks has also aged gracefully. He has started to look a bit like Paul Newman around the time of "The Verdict" (1982).
Act 1, Scenes 4-5 (C/CS)
Cars and buses arrive in Asteroid City one after another.
A group of elementary school students gets off a bus, and their teacher, June Douglas (Maya Hawke), takes roll call. Beside her, actress Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) is fed up with the heat, and her daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards) calmly retorts, "It's a desert..." Nearby, father J.J. Kellogg (Liev Schreiber) watches in disbelief as his son Clifford (Aristou Meehan) eats a chili pepper raw, while Sandy Borden (Hope Davis) notices the presence of Ford after being prompted by her daughter Shelly (Sophia Lillis), and so on.
Furthermore, Roger Cho (Stephen Park) and his son Ricky (Ethan Josh Lee) check into the motel, but are confused when the manager (Steve Carell) tells them that the room they were supposed to stay in burned down, so they'll have to use a tent. Outside, a cowboy named Montana (Rupert Friend) kicks a vending machine because he put his coin in but no cigarettes came out.
Augie tells his son and three daughters that their mother has died. The "private matter" he had discussed with Zak on the phone, the children are left speechless after being suddenly told that their mother died three weeks ago.
Note that from the beginning through the Augie family scene, the film is shot in a single take, despite panning and zooming along the way. It reminded me of the relentless one-scene, one-take sequence Altman did at the beginning of "The Player" (1992). Anderson only uses inorganic lateral movements, but I feel he is conscious of it.
Earp and Augie's Meeting (BW/SD)
The TV host explains that Jones Hall, an unknown actor playing Augie, was discovered by the playwright Earp and landed the role, and the scene where the two first spoke is recreated. Hall plays the role of Augie perfectly and gets the part. Then the two embrace and kiss.
Act 1, Scenes 6-9 (C/CS)
Augie and Woodrow stand at the diner counter with melancholy faces. Behind them (that is, outside the window), cowboys are left behind by a bus, and the usual car chase continues.
Noticing the Campbell mother and daughter at the end of the counter, Augie takes a photo of Midge's profile. Midge scolds Augie for taking the photo without permission, but Augie replies that he is a war photographer, so he doesn't ask for permission.
The opening ceremony and awards presentation for the "Junior Stargazer Convention" are being held in the crater. The day also happens to be "Asteroid Day," the anniversary of the Arid Brains meteorite impact on September 23, 3007 BC. General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) serves as the master of ceremonies before all the attendees.
Gibson explains the three-day celebration schedule while describing the actual meteorite placed on the ground. This includes a tour of the local observatory by Dr. Hickenlooper (Tilda Swinton), a picnic, and fireworks.
And then Gibson begins his speech.
Just before that, the screen shifts to standard size, layering short shots of the attendees' expressions.
Gibson tells his life story in chapters and finally speaks to the children who are the award winners.
Step into the realm of the brain and the path of the spirit. If you want to live a peaceful life, you were born at the wrong time.
While the winners and Gibson's assistant (Tony Revolori) make complicated expressions, sparse applause breaks out.
And then the awards ceremony. The reasons for the awards are explained. Ricky receives the "Dying Star Achievement Award" for his "achievements in flight guidance." He demonstrates flying through the sky with a rocket strapped to his back. Clifford receives the "Black Hole Victory Award" for his "research on particle decomposition." He uses a laser beam to disintegrate a plate thrown by his father. Dinah receives the "Red Giant Honor Award" for her "research on plant growth promotion." She uses cosmic rays to make plants grow in an instant, but all the vegetables become toxic. Shelly receives the "Nebula Laurel Award" for "generating new minerals." She synthesized an extraterrestrial element that will be added to the periodic table next year. And Woodrow receives the "White Dwarf Commendation" for his "research on image projection onto celestial bodies." He claims images can be projected onto the moon for advertising purposes.
The demonstration scenes by the winners are also in standard size.
Next is the observatory tour. Though it starts from Dr. Hickenlooper's closing announcement. Woodrow asks the doctor about the flashing signal device, but she replies that it is an indecipherable radio wave from space. Woodrow guesses it is a date. The doctor becomes interested in Woodrow.
Act 1, Scenes 10-12
The dinner scene. While everyone is chatting away, Augie talks with Midge, and Gibson explains to the concerned parties that the rights to the submitted inventions belong to the U.S. government. The winners are eating together, but only Woodrow is sitting apart. Dinah makes Woodrow join their table, and she hears about his personal history, such as his mother's death.
Mercedes Ford (BW/SD)
Host's commentary.
Stage actors are troubadours and rebels
living unconventional and dangerous lives,
nurturing and elevating artistic ambition,
and illuminating the human condition.
The night before the stage preview ten weeks later. A special passenger car on a train bound for California. A young actor playing Woodrow on stage brings a message from director Schubert Green to the actress playing Midge, Mercedes Ford. It seems Midge had an argument with Schubert, quit the play, and is on her way to California.
Moved by Schubert's pleading letter (read aloud by the messenger actor), Midge gets off the train in Chicago, returns to New York by plane, and arrives at the theater two hours before the curtain rises.
I was impressed by the classical visuals of this compartment and Johansson's classic beauty. Many films have tried to recreate the atmosphere of that era, but scenes that feel this convincing are rare. Even if the stage sets are decent, actors often stand out with their modern-looking faces, but here, Johansson evoked a Grace Kelly-style cool beauty.
Parents' True Feelings (C/CS)
The three parents, J.J., Sandy, and Robert, are not so much bragging about their children as they are complaining to each other about them. The motel manager, who has been listening from the sidelines, mutters, "Your children are quite something." The three parents nod deeply.
The children are playing a memory game among the five of them.
Act 1, Scenes 13-17 (C/CS)
At dusk, with distant thunder rumbling, the student Dwight is smoking a cigarette among the cowboys. June comes over and takes Dwight back home.
Augie and Midge, whose motels are next to each other, talk through their windows.
Augie's three daughters are performing a ritual to resurrect their mother. Zack arrives. As he talks to the granddaughters, fireworks go off.
And as the peak of Earth's elliptical orbit approaches at midnight, the observation session begins at the crater. Looking up at the night sky through a refraction box made of cardboard, one can see three dots (...), which Dr. Hickenlooper explains (having had them burned into his own eyes 57 years ago) are light that has traveled over a trillion kilometers, and if viewed directly with the naked eye, the three dots will be seared onto the retina. Everyone puts on the refraction boxes and sees three red dots.
However, a fourth dot soon lines up. Then a spaceship descends, and a tall, thin alien (Jeff Goldblum) takes the meteorite that was on display and leaves. Augie takes a picture.
End of Act 1, Optional Intermission (BW/SD)
An empty theater is shown. It is a massive theater with three tiers of seating. The first stage rehearsal takes place here. The director, Schubert, is introduced by the announcer's voice, and his work process is depicted.
His wife, Polly (Hong Chau), arrives (the announcer mentions she had an affair with a second baseman during the first week of rehearsals). Schubert says the room he built backstage is his home. Polly says goodbye and leaves, but then returns to suggest that for "Midge's exit in Act 3, Scene 5," the line should be delivered after the door is closed. She then says "Goodbye" after closing the door.
Does the meaning of "Optional Intermission" imply that we don't need to see the director's private life?
Act 2, Scenes 1-2 (C/CS)
Asteroid City is placed under strict security following the appearance of the alien. Gibson reads "National Security Emergency Measure Plan X" to those involved. It includes keeping all witnesses under arrest for at least a week, subjecting them to medical and psychological examinations, collecting all evidence and storing it in an underground facility, and publicly denying all events for over 100 years.
The children undergo various tests and interrogations.
Act 2, Scenes 3-7 (C/CS)
While under lockdown in Asteroid City, June is teaching her students. She tells the students, who are unsettled after witnessing an alien, that America is safe.
Montana interrupts and shares his theory. He says the alien is just a harmless visitor here to sightsee on Earth and observe humans; it's neither American nor Earthling, but a creature from somewhere else just like us, so we should welcome it warmly. He adds that if it turns out to be a nuisance, the undefeated U.S. military will handle it, and then he leaves.
Woodrow and Dinah are at the observatory. Dinah complains that her mother (Midge) isn't interested in STAR, only in STARDOM, and says that sometimes she feels more at home off-Earth. Woodrow agrees.
Augie and Midge talk through their windows. Midge says, "I'm not a good mother. I love my daughter, but she isn't my top priority." She then says that she and Augie are kindred spirits.
They don't show the depth of their pain even while suffering fatal wounds
Because it's unpleasant
J.J. gets into an argument with his son, Clifford. When he asks why his son keeps trying new things whenever he gets the chance, Clifford speaks haltingly.
I think I'm probably scared
If I'm not challenging myself, no one will notice...
My existence, that is
Sandy, waiting in line at the communal showers, notices Midge in line and they hit it off talking about her past roles. The host stands there looking like he wants to say something, but sensing their gaze, he says, "Not calling on me? Excuse me," and walks out of the frame himself.
This is likely the only scene where the host appears in color. I thought it was a one-off gag unrelated to the story. Of course, one could say it mocks the idea that the drama of Asteroid City, depicted in color, and the behind-the-scenes are two sides of the same coin.
Act 2, Scenes 8-10 (C/CS)
Augie and Zack are discussing Woodrow's future. Hearing this, Woodrow retorts that with an alien having arrived, this is no time to be thinking about college. Zack suggests they all live together, including Augie, whom he doesn't even like, but Augie refuses, saying, "I'm wallowing in pessimism, so leave me alone." Zack retorts, "I'm wallowing in pessimism, too." Woodrow interrupts and demands of Augie, "Are you going to abandon us?"
Augie replies, "I have thought about it, but not anymore." Woodrow replies, "I forgive you for having thought about it."
Ricky tricks a soldier into letting him make a long-distance call and brings a scoop to Skip, who is in charge of the school newspaper.
End of Act 2 (BW/SD)
To get hints for the future of the play, Earp gathered aspiring student actors for a seminar. While conversing with acting coach Saltzburg Keitel (Willem Dafoe), Earp decides to have the attending students perform an improvisation. The host interrupts Earp, commenting that there are several future stars among the students.
The students' seating area shifts to color, and the host reads out names like Asquith Eden (playing Montana), Mercedes Ford (playing Midge), and Jones Hall (playing Augie, who had snuck in), with each receiving a spotlight.
Q&A with the students.
What is the theme of this work?
"Eternity," perhaps... I don't know otherwise
Keitel asks the students if they have ever actually slept on stage. Schubert appears from the side and talks about his own experience. Keitel says that sleep is not the same as death, and suggests they turn what they saw in their dreams into a play, entering from the frame of the scene and slowly drifting into the dream... and the students all simultaneously embody their own versions of "sleep".
Arp gets a hint. It was that a strange emotional dimension was beginning to emerge among the protagonists under control, and that the military's information control was not working well.
The screen fades to black here.
Act 3 (Performing relentlessly without rest) (C/CS)
Outside the town, a large crowd of sightseers has pushed in, and it has become a huge commotion with food stalls, souvenir shops, and even a Ferris wheel built for the visitors. Information about the alien had already leaked. As the "Alien Special" train full of passengers arrives, an extra edition featuring Augie's photo of the alien on the front page is circulating.
Ricky, the "mastermind" behind the information leak, is interrogated by Gibson, but Ricky retorts that he will fight all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to know.
June teaches the students about the planets in the solar system, but the children's excitement about the alien sighting has not cooled down. In the midst of this, Dwight, a problem child (to June), starts saying he has written a song about the alien, and June scolds him, saying, "This is not music class...", but then Montana arrives with his friends. It seems that Montana and Dwight have become friends since the cigarette incident, and June and Montana have become interested in each other.
And while Montana and his friends play, Dwight sings his strange self-composed song, and Montana and June start to dance.
A conversation between Augie and Midge through the window. Augie helps Midge practice the scene where she commits suicide by taking pills in the bathtub. From their exchange of lines, they talk about how they made love the previous night and that Midge's daughter, Dinah, saw the scene. Midge says there will be no further development in their relationship, and Augie agrees, impulsively burning his palm on a toaster.
When Woodrow and the others are tirelessly playing memory games, Dr. Hickenlooper arrives, learns that it was Woodrow and the others who connected the observatory's radio telescope and other equipment, and asks for the reason. When Woodrow replies that it is to communicate with aliens, the doctor asks to be included in the group.
The children are arguing about what to project onto the moon with the image projection device Woodrow invented.
The doctor tells Woodrow that this is an experiment worth doing once in a lifetime, and that curiosity is the greatest asset Woodrow and his friends have.
The motel manager says he has applied to the government to change the town's name to "Alien Landing".
Everyone gathers at the crater for the "Hickenlooper Scholarship" awards ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, General Gibson announces that the quarantine will be lifted by presidential decree, and everyone is excited. Among them, Augie and Midge have unhappy faces.
Then a spaceship flies in, returns the stolen meteorite, and leaves. The general declares that the lifting of the quarantine will be canceled or postponed. In the midst of the commotion, Woodrow and Dinah kiss. A drawing of Woodrow and Dinah together under an umbrella was projected onto the moon.
Augie (Jones Hall) begins to get confused as he no longer understands the meaning of the play, and enters backstage through a door in the wall of the crater (set).
Jones Hall's Troubles (BW/SD)
When the host notices Hall and asks, "Where are you going?", Hall rips off his fake mustache and says, "I'll be right back," before heading to the director.
On the way, the actor playing the alien mutters, "The alien I'm playing is a metaphor," and Hall asks, "A metaphor for what?", but the actor also replies, "I don't know..."
Then, when he asks Schubert about Augie's character, Schubert praises him, saying, "It's a bit over-crafted, but the Augie played by Hall is impeccable." However, Hall tells him that he himself is also pained by the emotional wounds Augie carries. Schubert tells Hall to continue the play even if he doesn't understand the meaning. Hall anxiously says, "I don't understand the play." Schubert asserts, "You won't find the answer."
Hall gives up and lights a pipe on the theater's fire escape.
Then, a voice calls out from the fire escape of the theater across the way. It was the actress (Margot Robbie) who played Augie's (deceased) wife. All of her scenes had been cut, and only her photograph was to be used. The actress is wearing a dress, playing a maid in the costume drama "Withered Vines".
She asks Hall if he remembers his lines. When Hall says he has forgotten them, the actress recreates the exchange between Augie and his wife by herself.
The cut scene was one where Augie meets his dead wife again in a dream on an alien planet, where she persuades him that he should remarry for Woodrow's sake. Augie takes a picture of his wife and cries.
Snow begins to fall during their exchange. The actor playing the mechanic comes to call him, and Hall returns to the stage.
Hall had forgotten both the actress's name and the lines they were supposed to exchange. Meanwhile, the actress could recite the lines by heart, including the parts that were supposed to be Hall's as the husband.
It was the saddest and most beautiful scene in the film. The two were, after all, a married couple on stage, and even that relationship had been erased. The cut scene was also a scene where Augie meets his dead wife again on the planet, and she tells him to forget about her and move on.
Perhaps the reason Hall couldn't understand the play was because this scene had been removed. How will Augie, who has lost his wife and is dragged down by a sense of loss, live from here on? Hall may have gained an insight from the actress who once played his wife, whose name he had even forgotten.
Six months after opening night, the host announces that Earp has died in a car accident at the age of 50.
The seminar scene. It resumes from the scene where the students are embodying "sleep" in their own ways. Earp speaks.
Everyone, the characters, are invited into the comfortable sleep of lifeThanks to experiencing the mystical wonders of the fantastic heavens
…but I cannot write it
Hearing this, one of the students (Hall) shouts, "If you want to wake up, go to sleep". As if responding to that, the actor playing June and Ford also say the same words one after another. Gradually, everyone, including Earp and the others, begins to chant it in unison. An alien holding a meteorite appears and is bathed in a spotlight. Then, a blackout.
Epilogue (C/CS)
Augie wakes up and looks for Midge in the room across the way, but she has already checked out. When he asks the manager who was cleaning the room, he says that the quarantine was lifted in the middle of the night and most of them had checked out.
The supporting characters who gave the film its presence are all gone, and there was no scene of them leaving; by the time Augie noticed, no one was there. This "after the festival" atmosphere is impressive.
The Augie family is having breakfast at the diner counter. Unlike when they arrived, Zack is also there. When Zack asks his grandson Woodrow who ended up getting the scholarship, Woodrow answers that it was him. It seems that while he was waiting in line for the shower last night, the general handed Woodrow the check in a businesslike manner. His grandfather and father praise Woodrow.
The diner waitress (Deanna Dunagan) hands Augie a note from Midge. It was Midge's contact information (a P.O. box, however).
And once again, the rumbling of nuclear tests and a police car chase. The police car pursues the getaway car, leaving down the single road leading to Monument Valley.
As the camera pans, it captures the motel (vacancies available), moves horizontally to capture the Augie family getting into their car parked in front of the diner, pans further to capture a train passing slowly, and then captures the Augie family's car crossing the tracks and leaving town.
A brilliant ending that feels like a recreation of the opening. By bringing down the curtain on the stage (the film that recreates it) rather than backstage, I was able to soak in the lingering emotions without returning to reality.
End Credits
As "Freight Train (1957)" by The Charles McDevitt Skiffle Group & Nancy Whiskey plays, the end credits are displayed on the left. These are card-style rather than scrolling.
Then, as the screen goes black, the remaining credits scroll. In the background, Jarvis Cocker's "You Can't Wake Up If You Don't Fall Asleep" plays. The title is used for the phrase that everyone was chanting in the seminar scene before the epilogue.
The lyrics are as follows:
You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
You can't fall in love and land on your feet
You won't smell the roses if you never plant a seed
And you can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
You can't fall in love, nor can you get back on your feet
You can't smell the roses if you don't plant a seed
You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
You can't make an entrance if you keep missing your cue
You won't pick a winner till you learn how to choose
You never find a treasure unless you dig deep
And you can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
You can't make an entrance if you miss your cue
You can't pick a winner unless you learn how to choose
You won't reach the treasure unless you dig deep
You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
Oh, you'll never have memories worth keepin'
Oh, you'll never find the truth you are seekin'
While you are sleepin'
You won't have any memories worth keeping
You won't reach the truth you are seeking
While you are sleeping...
But you can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
So go live your dreams and live them real deep
There is some countin' money and there's some countin' sheep
Oh, you can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
If you don't fall asleep
You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
So go live your dreams, live them from the bottom of your heart
Some people count money, some people count sheep
You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep
If you don't fall asleep
Jarvis Cocker was the leader of Pulp, and since becoming a solo singer, he has had increasing involvement with Anderson, providing a voice in "Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)" and singing the theme song for "The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)." In this film, besides this song, he also appears as Cowboy #1. Below is the music video directed by Anderson.
By the way, here is "Mile End (1996)" from "Trainspotting (1996)."
Summary
I've been writing down things I noticed, and there's no end to it. This work is a visualization of Anderson's mind, and the audience, much like Hall did to the director, wants to question Anderson about the intentions behind this film.
At first, I watched thinking that perhaps the director himself didn't understand his own play, but I realized that wasn't the case; he just chooses not to talk about it...
The line "to wake up, you must fall asleep" might mean that falling asleep is the act of stopping the attempt to understand, and waking up is the ability to experience it.
Hall was supposed to resolve the confusion in the play by having a dream where he reunites with his wife who died in space, but that scene was cut.
However, by hearing about that scene and that exchange of lines from the actress playing his wife (whose name I've even forgotten), he was able to fill the void (sense of loss) within himself and continue the play.
Furthermore, even though he was left behind after oversleeping at the end, by falling asleep, he was able to reach a positive final scene.
That leads to a happy ending, hinting at a reunion with the actress who left earlier, a reconciliation with his father-in-law with whom he had a bad relationship, and the family moving forward from the loss of their wife/mother/daughter as they leave Asteroid City.
Perhaps the director was hoping for a performance where Hall would play the scene while keeping the cut scenes in his heart, but unfortunately, as soon as his scenes were cut, Hall and the actress playing his wife were completely forgotten.
If that is the case, then that must be Anderson's intention as well. That he doesn't need to draw everything from 1 to 10, and that it's fine for the viewers to fill in the missing parts as they please.
It is extremely unkind, and if it were Anderson, he would likely say, 'Don't make such sophistry, and use your time more meaningfully.'
Perhaps it is enough to just watch it and think, 'That was somehow good.'
Even so, I would still like an explanation regarding the metaphor of the alien, haha.