Review of The Phoenician Scheme, Wes Anderson’s latest film

Considering the looming unease of theatres drawing viewers, there’s a dependable comfort in knowing what you’re going to get. Expectations met, challenging twists avoided, and satisfaction damn near guaranteed. It might not register, but it has been thirty years of Academy Award-winner Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) bringing us his form of filmmaking, defined and unmistakable. Achieving with sacrifice, the auteur’s discernible aesthetics are what have infected his appeal, while dulling the interest of those resistant to repetition. Repetition is the X-factor in question with his latest.

Beholden to a meticulous eye, Anderson’s attention to detail could hold up to any of his contemporaries. To cement that quality, for the new movie The Phoenician Scheme reliable accomplices were enlisted for production design, Adam Stockhausen, and costume design, Milena Canonero, assumingly vital to maintaining a presentation he clearly is content with. I suppose one surprising take is the story’s lead is played by Oscar-winning Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), a fresh face in the Anderson world. As mystique-heavy international businessman Zsa-zsa Korda, Del Toro is at his best firing off quick, witty lines and banter with the star-stacked cast. 

Signature technique and alluring imagery

With his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton, Scoop) in tow, Zsa-Zsa takes on the project of his life, leaping in deep with both feet, evading regulators, convincing naysayers, assuring investors, and mending familial relations, all while casually skirting by death along the way. Somehow, hired tutor Bjorn (Michael Cera, Superbad) is easily sucked into the venture, pathetically enamored with Liesl amidst her convictions to become a Nun. Oh, don’t worry, you’ll get your Bill Murray fix, even if minimally. From roles sizable to small, Willem Dafoe, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Zsa-zsa’s combative half-brother, Uncle Nubar, all grace the screen. There’s even more names this review’s word count doesn’t have vacancy for. 

In a welcomed and rare comical turn, Del Toro comes off eager as Korda, feeling at place in the director’s unique kingdom, without portraying a rehashed, reshaped character. While Korda gives you the sense he belongs, some actors and their roles do not, forced efforts disconnecting the very realm that has been constructed with concentration. Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, and Johansson unfortunately seem unsure, reading off a Wes Anderson script uninspired. 

Star-studded cast works to carry a frail plot

The film is not really about anything. It doesn’t really go anywhere, but it wasn’t intended to. That hasn’t been the M.O. since Rushmore. It’s the journey, not the destination, that people enjoy from this artist. Set, costume, and sound design are top tier, nothing is wasted, nothing is skimped on. Well-crafted dialogue spilling with humor keeps the momentum from ever sinking.

Leading up to this project’s release, speculative talk has emerged of “Anderson Fatigue”. That timid nomenclature can be deciphered as critics saying he oversaturated audiences with his particular tone and approach, bordering on being a one-trick pony. If you have seen any of his last ten flicks, you may have seen them all. The very same striking vibe that is his sharp blade also serves to cut him, pictures arguably indistinguishable from one another. It’s nothing he hasn’t done well before, many times over. But, he put all the right pieces in the right places; it’s just a matter of wanting to watch another Wes Anderson film or not. 

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