By George & Josh Bate
There is something so singularly unique about a Wes Anderson film. With a passion for visual symmetry, one of a kind pastel color palettes, and awkward yet powerful dialogue, Anderson has cultivated a cinematic language no other filmmaker could engineer. From The Royal Tenenbaums to Fantastic Mr. Fox. Anderson deftly combines humor, melancholy, and a longing for a picturesque version of the past, all packaged into a distinctive vision. His latest project, The Phoenician Scheme, sees the director dabble in espionage and conspiracy for a briskly paced, quirky, and touching film that is unlikely to convert those previously reticent to the director’s style.
The Phoenician Scheme follows Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro), a multi-millionaire businessman who appears incapable of dying, even after surviving multiple assassination attempts. As the threats on his life become increasingly severe and frequent, Zsa-Zsa reconnects with his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a young nun, so that she can one day complete his ambitious project in the event of his demise. Together, the duo navigate the complexities of an ambitious infrastructure project, coming across several eccentric characters in the process, including Bjørn (Michael Cera), Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), and Korda’s enigmatic brother, Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch). Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, and Bill Murray round out the ensemble cast.
How much enjoyment one experiences from The Phoenician Scheme depends almost exclusively on their affinity for the style of Wes Anderson. The director firmly works within his well-established wheelhouse here, meaning audience members who haven’t enjoyed his previous efforts are unlikely to have a good time with his latest. The inverse is also true though: if one generally enjoyed previous films from Anderson, then they’re likely to feel the same way about The Phoenician Scheme.
That being said, The Phoenician Scheme possesses several outstanding qualities that make it stand out among some of Anderson’s more abstract and meandering films. Anderson establishes one of his more plot-heavy films to date, taking the audience on a globe-trotting adventure as a mismatched father-daughter duo try to secure funding for a massive business deal. The plot alone is enough to hold one’s interest, but adding unusual and captivating characters to execute that plot makes the film even more engaging.
As is the case with some of Anderson’s film, however, The Phoenician Scheme suffers from the filmmaker indulging, perhaps a bit too much, in his signature style. At times, the symmetrical framing, wild and rapid dialogue, and self-aware characters threatens to take over the entire film. It doesn’t take long to begin to recognize that the dialogue and delivery of dialogue inherent to an Anderson film renders all of the characters to act in fairly similar ways and, although possess a fun quirkiness, lack much characterization otherwise. As is the case with much of his filmography, The Phoenician Scheme features a clash between style and substance, with the former largely winning out. In other terms, the impressive visuals and overall aesthetic almost always prove more interesting than what the film has to say. Nonetheless, the film races by and the story continues to propel forward with momentum.
Anderson also taps into a side of his directorial style unseen for years now as he proves capable of capturing audience’s attention more than he ever has before. Aided by exceptional performances from some of the leading cast, the film rarely gets lost meandering and being too abstract, instead proving to be a surprisingly gripping movie from start to finish.
Benicio Del Toro stands out in contributing significantly to how compelling the film is. Del Toro plays a different kind of character than what he has typically gravitated towards in recent years, moving away from the mumbling and bumbling of DJ from Star Wars: The Last Jedi and other more disheveled roles. Instead, Del Toro plays a character that is far more out in the open – someone who shows his true shady side to anyone who comes close. Del Toro still keeps his trademark wayward eccentricity, though, which makes Zsa-Zsa much more of an entertaining character to follow. Without Del Toro’s performance, it’s entirely possible that The Phoenician Scheme would fall back into the same patterns of past Anderson stories, with a quality some found find enjoyable and many would find dull. It is great to see del Toro do something stylistically different and showcase once again why he is one of cinema’s greatest current actors.
Side-by-side with Del Toro for the majority of the film are two actors who similarly deliver excellent performances: Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera. The latter has become well known for appearing in oddball films like this, although hasn’t collaborated with Wes Anderson until now, strangely enough. Together, Cera and Anderson prove to be a match made in heaven, with the former a perfect vessel to deliver the snappy, deadpan dialogue the latter is so well known for. Without revealing too much, Cera has the opportunity to play another character (of sorts) alongside Bjorn, which gives the actor the opportunity to portray the mild mannered bug specialist and another person who, despite living a very different life, is almost exactly the same. It’s an odd situation, navigated well by a brilliantly odd actor who excels in Anderson’s odd cinematic world.
Meanwhile, Mia Threapleton also produces a great turn as Zsa-Zsa’s hard-headed daughter. In many ways, Liesl is the character that keeps the film (somewhat) grounded; she’s the only person who behaves simultaneously rational and like a real human being, which gives the events of The Phoenician Scheme some much needed relatability amidst a flurry of zany characters and even zanier situations.
The father-daughter relationship between Zsa-Zsa and Liesl is at the heart of The Phoenician Scheme, and gives the film a much needed emotional core amidst a quirky and unhinged story. Zsa-Zsa and Liesl’s journey begins with suspicion as the latter believes her father may have been responsible for her mother’s death, but, over the course of the film, their relationship develops into one that is more intimate Zsa-Zsa begins to show care for his daughter even as he doesn’t know it, while Liesl begins to see the human side to her criminal father. It takes some time, but, eventually, the relationship blossoms and evolves into something quite touching, rounding out the film in an emotionally powerful manner.
VERDICT: 7/10
Known for his singular vision of filmmaking, Wes Anderson returns with The Phoenician Scheme, a visually pleasing, briskly paced, and surprisingly touching film. While Anderson’s latest suffers from many of his previous efforts’ shortcomings, in particular a priority of style over substance and minimalist dialogue that renders all characters too similar to one another, a unique and more plot-heavy screenplay, coupled with memorable performances from the core three cast members, makes it one of Anderson’s most approachable films in years. The quirky, globe-trotting adventure humor will undoubtedly please longtime fans of the filmmaker, even if it is ultimately unlikely to convert those who haven’t resonated with his previous work.