The Phoenician Scheme

4 outta 5

Writer and director Wes Anderson’s latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, has a lot of his quirks as often happens in Wes Anderson films. It has a bit more heart than usual with following the chilly to heartwarming evolution of a relationship between a father and his estranged daughter. The movie, and the dialogue, moves so fast it’s hard to keep up at times so one just surrenders to its vibe. As Anderson movies look, it is immaculately presented with methodical precision, and lots of quirky rapid-fire lines. This may not evolve Anderson’s style, but it applies his style excellently.

Very rich and very criminal Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) is making money via criminal enterprises, a type of lifestyle that has Korda attacked and barely surviving multiple assassination attempts. After escaping another assassination, Korda tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), even though he already has 9 sons, but he wants to give his fortune to her. With the help of Korda’s quirky assistant Bjørn Lund (Michael Cera) they put together a scheme to overhaul the infrastructure of the nation of Phoenicia. They will be doing this using slave labour, something the pious Liesl objects to. Along the way, Korda meets God (Bill Murray) in a dream, there are more assassination attempts, some high stakes games of pick-up basketball with very wealthy men, lots of hand grenades, and a simmering confrontation that Korda must have with his evil half-brother, Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

The dynamic between Korda and his nun-in-training daughter Liesl is what propels the film. Benicio del Toro has always had an affinity for accents and voice work, and here his deep voice is rattling off dialogue a mile a minute. He also has a vision and has a conversation with God, asking if it is right to use slave labour. God, as played by Murray, tells him that it is obviously a mortal sin, and he just looks flabbergasted that Korda even had to ask. Threapleton as the daughter doesn’t want anything to do with her estranged father. When she points out that he has nine other sons, he says his estate will only go to her. The sons are silent, only used for cutaway gags, and one of them constantly shoots things with an arrow. When Liesl and Korda sit down for a dinner with the boys, she starts having them say grace, and Korda says, “Don’t make them religious” and she quickly replies, “I am. We’re already started Genesis.”

Cera as Bjørn Lund starts off with an impenetrable accent and his responses are weirdly quirky, but he reveals more of himself as the film goes on, leading to one of the movie’s best moments where he entirely changes his voice and vibe instantaneously. Cumberbatch is crazy as Nubar, the wicked half brother involved in some deadly family secrets. Korda always has a supply of hand grenades at any moment, and when the two brothers confront each other, Kodra offers Nubar a hand grenade and Nubar plainly says that he has his own. Apparently, it runs in the family. By the end, they’re throwing poison and hand grenades at each other, and Nubar looks positively deranged.

There is a gaggle of Wes Anderson movie alums here, like the aforementioned Bill Murray. Also, unsurprisingly, there are thespians like Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, and many others. They usually pop in for a scene or two, make a weird impression, then leave. Hanks and Cranston negotiate very important deals with a game of basketball for very high cash stakes with Riz Ahmed as a Prince who has no idea how to play basketball. Another wild scene is when Korda is talking to a business partner to try to get some cash and then he whips out a hand grenade to get more acceptable terms, something that incredibly irritates Korda’s daughter.

There’re also marriage proposals, raids by bandits, and a moment when Korda takes a bullet for someone that leads to an on-site bullet removal that Korda is incredibly casual about. He seems very unphased by the prospect of death, probably because he has survived so many failed assassination attempts. The opening scene has a bomb going off on a plane, someone across the plane getting blown apart while still strapped in their seat, and then Korda goes to the cockpit, fires the pilot, ejects him to prove a point, then crash lands in a cornfield. The plane crash does cause him to reconnect with his daughter, which is why the plot happens. He slowly starts to do compassionate things, like rethinking the very notion of slavery and actually paying them. As distant as the relationship between him and his daughter is, seeing them connect over the course of the film is kind of sweet.

While a lot of the style in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme has been on display before, it is always interesting to watch. Most of it is not about following the plot, but more about how shots look, funny reactions, and great quips. It may be stylistically similar to what Anderson has done before, but it certainly is different from anything out in theatres right now.