Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s latest movie, is a movie about a play where the plot never quite make sense. There is a scene where the playwright is asking a room of actors to be asleep. The movie returns to this moment a few times. On the final time, the director, after telling the lead actor there are no answers for why he burned his hand on purpose, tells everyone “you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep.”
I think this is the whole point of the movie. The story is not the point, but a plot device to articulate the moment of “waking up”. The juxtaposition of sleep or dreaming (or watching a meandering Wes Anderson film), helps us realize reality and wake up. I caught myself noticing reality a little more clearly as that scene was happening.
Maybe not profound, but artful and interesting!
See also:
- Wakefulness is a form of determinate negation defined by the ceasation of asleep
- Mindfulness helps you notice these moments awareness is key to being present