- Director: Wes Anderson
- Screenplay: Wes Anderson
- Cast: 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, Hope Davis
- Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel
- Score: Alexandre Desplat
- Genre: Espionage black comedy
- Runtime: 105 minutes
‘The Phoenician Scheme‘ is the venerated Wes Anderson’s unlucky 13th feature length outing. Over 20+ years, he’s developed his own idiosyncratic style of filmmaking; a rich colour palette of yellows and oranges and shots made to look as if they’re two-dimensional paintings. He’s got his die-hard fans; if you’re one of them, you’ll no doubt love this film greater than I did.
Visually, as ever, it’s striking. As the opening credits appear, we’re treated to an aerial shot of Benicio del Toro (as Zsa-Zsa Korda) in the bath (a tray covering his modesty), while nurses walk around the perimeter of the screen. Anderson’s quirky approach makes up for a lack of coherent plot. Zsa-Zsa Korda is an industralist keen to remodel the area of Phoenicia (the Eastern Mediterranean) in his image. Having survived countless assassination attempts due to his shady business dealings, he decides to leave everything he owns to his pious nun of a daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton, in her first leading movie role). She’s his only female child; he has nine sons – he has more children than Boris Johnson!
The screenplay is too verbose with the actors trading lines back and forth at a pace so fast my brain didn’t comprehend half of what was going on. What I did understand devolved into silliness quickly, it sadly failed to ignite any strong, positive feelings from me.
Nevertheless, the cast is an embarrassment of riches: Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright to name but a few and Anderson’s regular musical collaborator, Alexandre Desplat, delivers another charming score. If Wes ploughs on and conceives his 14th project, he should scheme to make a story capable of following. With less Michael Cera lingering in the background like a stench.
My rating: 5 / 10
SilverScreen 