It’s a play, it’s a television show, it’s a movie: Ostensibly, at least, writer-director Wes Anderson’s highly creative, characteristically quirky blend of comedy and drama “Asteroid City” (Focus) is all three. Confused yet? You will be.

Doubly framed as a Broadway production showcased on a golden-age-of-TV anthology series – the former penned by celebrated author Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), the latter introduced by a grave but unnamed host (Bryan Cranston) – the film is a mannered exploration of familiar tropes in Eisenhower-era American life.

Thus viewers are shortly transported to the Southwest in 1955 and to the tiny desert town of the tile. In keeping with the absurdist tone of the proceedings, the testing of atomic weapons in the distance causes periodic booms which are briefly noted but nonchalantly dismissed.

The action centers on a group of parents and children who are visiting Asteroid City for an Army-sponsored gathering of young astronomy enthusiasts. The high point of the program will be an awards ceremony, presided over by Gen. Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright), at which the kids will be honored for their prowess in science.

Military-industrial complex? Check. Widespread interest in the possibilities of space exploration and the existence of life on other planets? Double check.

An ensemble cast portrays a score of characters. The most prominent of these are Jason Schwartzman’s eccentrically buttoned up war photographer, Augie Steenbeck, Augie’s nerdy son Woodrow (Jake Ryan), nicknamed Brainiac, and Scarlett Johanson’s Marilyn Monroe-like actress, Midge Campbell.

Like Woodrow, Midge’s daughter, Dinah (Grace Edwards), is due to receive a prize – although not, presumably, as the result of much encouragement on the part of her career-focused, inattentive mom. Eventually Tom Hanks also joins the scrum in the part of Woodrow’s maternal grandfather, Stanley Zak.

Recently widowed Augie bonds with Midge whose own vulnerabilities may or may not be reflected in those of the character she’s preparing to portray. Thus, behind sunglasses, Midge wears makeup designed to look like a black eye, practices a scene of drug-overdose suicide and, like Monroe, is not shy of appearing in the buff, at least briefly.

The medal presentation, once underway, is suddenly interrupted by a history-altering event. Without being too specific, it’s enough to say that, in its wake, Asteroid City temporarily becomes a version of Area 51.

Filmed in the washed-out hues of a cheap mid-20th-century postcard, Anderson’s cultural survey touches on a number of fundamental themes. These include the meaning (if any) of life and death as well as the nature of love, loss, and grief.

Additionally, there’s an incidental treatment of religion marked by a lazy, shorthand sort of irreverence. The script seems to imply that faith is both a symptom of unthinking social conformity and a means of falsely masking unpleasant truths.

“Asteroid City” is, accordingly, inappropriate for those lacking mature discernment. Even those possessing it, however, may find Anderson’s odd oeuvre baffling.

The film contains a glimpse of full female nudity, a same-sex kiss, at least one sexual reference and a couple of crass terms. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.