Review 747: The Phoenician Scheme

 

There's a belief in recent years that Wes Anderson makes the same film over and over again. While it is true that his films feature similar visual styles, similar casts and the same offbeat sense of humor, each experience feels destinctly different and 

Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) is a roughish millionaire business man, survivor of six plane crashes and father of nine sons and - crucially - one daughter, a nun called Liesel (newcomer Mia Threapleton). The two reunite when Liesel is, against all odds, named sole heir to his estate. But as Korda embarks on a new, ambitious enterprise, they quickly become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. 

In a lot of ways, The Phoenician Scheme is one of Wes Anderson's simplest films and in others one of the most straight forward in terms of narrative.

The cinematography is gorgeous; Anderson and his DP Bruno Delbonnel (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and who previously shot Anderson's 2016 short film Come Together: A Fashion Picture in Motion) have crafted a visually arresting  with vibrant colours and making The Phoenician Scheme one of Anderon's most beautiful films to date. The score by Alexandre Desplat is alternately brooding and quirky. The production design is   

At the heart of The Phoenician Scheme is Benicio del Toro playing millionaire industrialist and arms dealer Zsa-Zsa Korda. del Toro is wonderfully charasmatic in the role  Korda is a very enigmatic character 

Mia Threapleton is a revalation playing Liesel. Liesel is assertive,   

Throughou the film, they are surrounded by a supporting cast made up of reccuring Anderson alumni  Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, Bill Murray, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Alex Jennings, Donald Sumpter, Scott Shepherd & Stephen Park. Rather awesome. Ayoade, in particular has a very funny role as a communist freedom fighter. Thankfully, the film never feels overstuffed and the focus stays on del Toro, Threapleton & Cera.