Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

It’s new Wes Anderson release time so I thought I’d dig out what I’d said about one of his last movies, in ‘The French Dispatch’, which was:

“For better or worse, ‘The French Dispatch’ might be the most Wes Anderson film ever. His fans will love it, his detractors will hate it, and for those like me who finds myself in the middle, I’ll just wonder what all the fuss is about, and still go to see his next movie. C’est la vie.”

For ‘The French Dispatch’, read ‘The Phoenician Scheme’, and that won’t come as a surprise to anyone by now who has seen most of Anderson’s work. It’s long past the time when Anderson attempted to do something that doesn’t fit firmly in his well established (and original at one stage) wheelhouse. That said, this is one of his more enjoyable recent efforts and it is largely down to Benicio del Toro, the ensemble, and a funnier script than his last couple.

So, ‘The Phoenician Scheme’. Like most Anderson films it has a plot, but what that plot is appears to be secondary to the his trademark cinematic stylings. It follows Anatole ‘Zsa-Zsa’ Korda, an industrialist and arms dealer who is constantly surviving a series of assassination attempts. He is attempting to source funding from a variety of wealthy individuals and organisations in order to build a series of large scale infrastructure products in the fictional land of Phoenicia (an unknown area in the Middle East), which will be difficult as he’ll need to strong arm, bribe and manipulate to get these people to buy in. Korda is played by Benicio del Toro who is genuinely fantastic, and he elevates the movie to a level above Anderson’s recent efforts going back to at least ‘Isle of Dogs’ or possibly ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, which this shares an energy with.

Thus begins essentially a caper as Korda travels across Phoenicia to garner the investment needed, while trying to stave off further assassination attempts and bond with his only daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who he hasn’t seen in years. The format allows for the expected ensemble cast of familiar faces and Anderson regulars, with time even found for brief sequences in heaven to enable Bill Murray (and others) to sneak into the film. The performances are mostly enjoyable, the comedy is fairly sharp, but it does feel overly performative at times, and I do find it hard to connect with his films on an emotional level. It’s there, superbly crafted and well acted, but it’s got little of value to say. Or maybe that’s in the subtext buried underneath the ornate stylings and intricate models of railway and dam systems.

A director with a style as unique as Wes Anderson is ripe for AI parodies and I’m sure you’ve seen the various AI generated takes on what an Anderson directed ‘Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Star Wars’ would look like, and I’d read (or heard) that Anderson isn’t a fan. There’s a certain irony in that when Anderson himself is becoming a bit of a parody of himself as he makes the same movie over and over. As I said at the outset some love it, some hate it, but for me, I would like to see this incredibly talented director exit his comfort zone a little more than he has done recently.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Wes Anderson

Starring: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend and Hope Davis

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt30840798/