Asteroid City/On Rewatching

I recently watched Asteroid City, the newest film by Wes Anderson (no spoilers don't worry), and although I had a great time, I wasn't totally sure what I thought about it. It was well-filmed, well-acted, manically paced and consistently funny, but in its final thirty minutes the story lost me. I felt that it went off the rails, and either I didn't get it, or there wasn't much to get. I couldn't tell if it was genuinely complex or just willfully obscure. Then, I got a chance to see it a second time.

I saw Asteroid City in the exact same theater I saw it originally, a single row away, but this time it felt like a completely different movie. With knowledge of where the film goes, I built on my initial thoughts and had several satsifying "aha" moments where its views on grief, art, performance, and connection came into meaningfully clear focus. On first watch I thought Asteroid City went off the rails. On second watch I realized I hadn't noticed the tracks.

However, the large majority of people won't see Asteroid City, or any given movie, a second time. They'll give it a fair shake and then, whether they liked it or not, be done with it. So when Wes Anderson says "I have a funny feeling that this movie might be one that benefits from seeing it twice," is that a bad thing? Is requiring a rewatch for full understanding a flaw, indicative of a poorly-told story, or is it a valid asterisk independent of quality? The answer is, as for most good questions, it depends.

While Asteroid City had Anderson's highest-grossing opening weekend (no doubt in part due to the current trend of imitating his aesthetic on TikTok), it certainly has its detractors. Check the comments section under any promotional material for the film, and you'll find a sharp divide. Some praise it endlessly, while others absolutely despise it. The latter group typically dismiss it as pretentious, arthouse garbage that leans so far into Anderson's signature style it begins to eat its own tail. I doubt they'll be rushing back to theaters for a second watch, and they shouldn't. The film clearly didn't engage them enough on first viewing to warrant a second.

And that's okay! Film has a dual role of art and entertainment. If you weren't entertained, it isn't on you to withstand a slog in the name of "getting" the movie. I've heard people use the phrase "You haven't seen [ ] until you've seen it twice" before, and it irks me for this reason. With few exceptions, (Memento, The Sixth Sense, films that on rewatch are completely recontextualized), I think this phrase encourages treating movies like homework in wasteful search of understanding the art. If you really didn't like something, don't force it, watch something else!The onus to elicit a rewatch is on the movie, not the viewer.

That isn't to say that films can't be complex, or that they need to value entertainment above artistic merit, it just means that they have to DESERVE the effort. You could force yourself to like any movie if you rewatched it enough. The difference is whether you rewatched it because you like it, or you like it because you rewatched it. So to get back to the original question, requiring a rewatch is only a problem when no one wants to watch it again. I think viewers have an internal barometer for when a movie has underlying depth worth discovering versus when it just puts on the airs of complexity and hopes you don't notice the facade.

Even if I was unsure about Asteroid City's story on first viewing, there were many aspects that drew me in and compelled me to engage with it further. My gut told me there was more to it, and I followed that feeling. I watched Asteroid City for the second time with three friends who hadn't seen it before. After the movie was over, they all felt like in one way or another the film went over their heads. On the ride home, I asked whether they would be interested in watching it again. Two immediately said yes, but the third was less enthusiastic.

That's the crux of the question to me. If the film excites you enough to warrant a rewatch despite not fully understanding it, it's an asterisk. If you're worried about falling asleep the second time, it's a flaw.