The Phoenician scheme - Review

3/5

Wes Anderson slightly redeems himself with a fun but throwaway classic example of the strengths and weaknesses of his almost parody style.

We are now on the 13^th film from meticulous detail freak master Wes Anderson, and they’re feeling more divisive than ever. A new Anderson flick used to mark an almost guaranteed hit, something for everyone, films that could be enjoyed with the sound off. But over time the patience for his quirky stories and almost emotionless characters seems to have worn thin for some. With The Phoenician Scheme he classically splits himself down the middle and serves up a tale both frustrating and delightful in equal measure.

The film follows Anderson-Esque evocatively named Zsa-Zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro) a wealthy and immoral businessman who survives yet another plane crash in the first moments of the film. This subsequently jolts him into appointing his only daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) a nun whom he hasn’t seen in 6 years the sole heir to his estate. Determined to secure their future and embark on a new, ambitious enterprise they become targets for quintessentially quirky tycoons and investors he’s previously duped in one way or another to make the scheme a reality. Accompanying them is a comic relief, shakily accented insect expert Bjorn (Michael Cera) who seems to have a thing for Liesl and must protect a suitcase of Zsa Zsa’s money. The story is pretty much as you’d expect, it’s not so much narrativity inclined as desperately eager to show you just how cooky and fun its characters are. Zsa Zsa is the strongest of all the characters, his morally ambiguous nature is often played for laughs and everyone constantly trying to kill him all the time makes for an amusing side point. Although there does seem to be an insistence on creating a tender father daughter relationship between him and Liesl, but the Anderson caricatures make it incredibly hard to feel anything for anyone.

The cast is ridiculously starry consisting of Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansen, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, I could go on. This is typical of an Anderson film and the majority give fun and committed performances but again, it’s truly difficult to leave an impression with quite so many new people and things happening every other five minutes. Expectantly, it looks incredible, and I appreciated that there was a slight glimmer of movement on style. Some tracking shots felt like they had less laser like precision which felt relieving amidst all the perfection. I believe Anderson should abandon his style and try and make a proper narratively interesting film with less flashy techniques. The man is quite clearly a bit of a cinematic genius so why not shock everyone and go rogue, but for now, this is pleasant enough.

Seen on 24/05/25 at Odeon Greenwich.