Black Friday 2023.
Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City, takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955. Written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson, from a story he wrote with Roman Coppola, the plot revolves around a Junior Stargazer / Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) which is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
Set in a retro-futuristic version of 1955, with Anderson’s extraordinary visual touch to the fore as always, the film is staged as a play, and the creation of the play. The meta-textual plot is Anderson’s homage to popular memory and mythology about extra-terrestrials and UFOs witnessed in the South-Western desert, in close proximity to atomic test sites, during the post-war period of the American 20th century.
The stunning film features a remarkable ensemble cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Jake Ryan, and Jeff Goldblum. Look out for Jarvis Cocker’s cameo as a cowboy in the band ‘The Ranch Hands’, which also features Seu Jorge! The soundtrack to Asteroid City is available on a limited edition orange 2-LP set.
Features You Can’t Wake Up If You Don’t Fall Asleep, performed by Jarvis Cocker and written by Jarvis and Richard Hawley, and Dear Alien (Who Art in Heaven) by the Asteroid City Cast. A mesmerising mixture of 1950s bluegrass, skiffle, cowboy classics and exotica, the soundtrack also includes six original score tracks by Oscar-award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat.
Side A
1. WXYZ-TV Channel 8 – Alexandre Desplat
2. Last Train To San Fernando – Johnny Duncan and the Blue Grass Boys
3. Island of Dreams – The Springfields
4. April in Portugal – Les Baxter
5. Ida Red – Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
6. Canon and Gigue in D-Major – Henk Bouman, Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel
Side B
1. Opening Ceremony with Awards Presentation (Keynote Speaker: General Grif Gibson) Alexandre Desplat
2. (I Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle – Tex Ritter
3. Orange Blossom Special – Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys
4. High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) – Tex Ritter
5. Cowboy’s Lament – Burl Ives
6. Viewing of the Astronomical Ellipses (Opening Comments: Dr. Hickenlooper) – Alexandre Desplat
Side C
1. Rose Marie – Slim Whitman
2. Indian Love Call – Slim Whitman
3. Sixteen Tons – Tennessee Ernie Ford
4. The Cattle Call – Eddy Arnold with Hugo Winterhalter’s Chorus and Orchestra
5. Special Seminar at the Playwright’s Request (Saltzburg Keitel’s Classroom) – Alexandre Desplat
6. Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven) – Asteroid City Cast
7. Kaw-Liga – Johnny Duncan and the Blue Grass Boys
Side D
1. Emergency Assembly – Alexandre Desplat
2. A Bewildering and Bedazzling Celestial Mystery – Alexandre Desplat
3. How High The Moon – Les Paul & Mary Ford
4. The Streets of Laredo – Bing Crosby
5. Freight Train – The Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group featuring Nancy Whiskey
6. You Can’t Wake Up If You Don’t Fall Asleep – Jarvis Cocker.
