The Phoenician Scheme

Director: Wes Anderson

Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) is a business man of questionable morals and regular plane crashes. After his latest scrape, he summons his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a trainee nun, and makes her the heir to his fortune. But there’s a catch, she must help him to complete his most ambitious, high risk, and likely to fail venture, his Phoenician Scheme. A scheme that is already in financial trouble, thanks to a secretive committee, whose exists to thwart Korda. The Korda’s accompanied by, Zsa-zsa’s tutor, Bjørn (Michael Cera), have a plan to meet with the investors and encourage them to plug the rather large gap in funds, using a bunch of schemes and cons to get there.

I have to admit, I do love the look and feel of a Wes Anderson film, and this was no exception. It ticks all the Anderson boxes. A starry cast, sumptuous colour, the fabulous symmetry of every shot and of course it’s story filled with quirky characters and fantastical story lines.

Its core characters. Del Toro, Cera and Mia Threapleton, carry the film with wonderful fun performances, but as always it’s the ensemble cast that help make it, Riz Ahmed, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeffery Wright and Richard Ayoade all are particularly memorable.

The film’s storyline is perfect Anderson material. A heist style plot requiring many bits to fit together, works wonderfully with the elegant scene building that is such a signature of Anderson’s films.

The story is not perfect and does meander a little too much and isn’t Anderson at his most sharp. But that didn’t matter overly, as I so enjoy the worlds his films create, which are fabulous places to spend time.

I do love a Wes Anderson film and the The Phoenician Scheme is very Wes! It looks as only his films do, with its starry ensemble and a quirky heist story that lends itself to Anderson’s style. If you like Anderson’s films, you’ll enjoy this. If you’re not familiar with them, it may be a quirk too far, or it may just be an in to Anderson’s wonderful world.