In Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme”, Benicio Del Toro plays Zsa-zsa Korda, a wealthy businessman who appoints his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) as the sole heir to his enterprise and aids him in creating a new one. Old and new enemies will confront them to take down Zsa-zsa.
At this point, it has become more challenging to enter Wes Anderson’s whimsical cinema without having the introduction of his older works. From very intricate production design, star-studded ensemble, and cinematography to dry humor, it’s best to describe a new Anderson film as a culmination of the works that came before it. I have noticed patterns in the multi-layered narrative of “The Phoenician Scheme” due to the bulky nature of his previous two feature films, “The French Dispatch” and “Asteroid City”.
“The Phoenician Scheme” is a wonderful father-and-daughter story that was unfortunately diluted into a caper involving syndicates. It has only victimized itself by the need to bulk more and introduce conflicts that can easily be removed. I’m a sucker for sentimentalism in a Wes Anderson film. I feel that familial charm is something that he has grown to be good at, as displayed in “The Royal Tenenbaums”, but it felt lacking here.
This film has plenty of room for improvement, but still, there’s no denying that in this day of Hollywood’s chase of monotonous material, there’s nothing like the elaborate style that “The Phoenician Scheme” can offer. Wes Anderson takes his comedy up a notch here, replacing the dread of escaping death with hilarious encounters that put Michael Cera’s quirks and Benicio Del Toro’s raspiness to great use.
"The Phoenician Scheme” is now showing in New Zealand cinemas from Universal Pictures.
Featured photos from Universal Pictures.
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