TL;DR – Weird and wonderful in equal measure.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

The Phoenician Scheme Review –

Today, we are going to experience a touch of tonal whiplash when it comes to our film reviews. Because we are going from Fountain of Youth, where I could not tell was directed by Guy Ritchie as all his signature stull was sandblasted out of the film, and in the days since I am still wondering if he actually directed that film. But now we are hard cutting to the opposite side of that spectrum with the most stylistic director working in the field today. A man with a stylistic pallet that is oft copied but never replicated. I was first introduced to Wes Anderson’s work through Isle of Dogs and Asteroid City and was delighted by his reinterpretations of Roald Dahl’s short stories like Poison a couple of years ago. This means I came into this with somewhat high expectations, and I think they met them and more.  

So, to set the scene, in 1950, Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) is flying above the Balkin mountains when an explosion rips apart his plane, yet miraculously, he survives, for this is not the first assassination attempt on his life. He feels like his life work might get cut off by influential players seeking to ruin him and realises that his legacy is not going to be passed down to his ten other sons. Zsa-zsa calls upon his one and only daughter, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who is about to take her nun oaths. However, he offers her a deal, well, a trial run, at being his sole heir to his fortune, as long as he can fill in the gap in this funding that the shadowy powers just forced upon him. Oh, and stop all the many, many, many people trying to kill him.

Okay, let’s get the most apparent element over and done with first. Yes, this is a stunningly beautiful film, filled with care and intention in every aspect. There is no detail here that was not deliberately chosen, which immerses you in this weird and wacky world. When I say every detail, I mean every detail. Down to the colour in the opening credits matched the pallet of the bathroom tiles it was being imposed over, so they felt a part of the world rather than being layered above it. Films that are odd for just the sake of being odd always fall flat for me, but the intentionality and perfection in the final product show just what an impact all of those choices make.

Then there is the cast, and I will get to our big three in a moment, but goodness is every single person in the supporting cast an absolute delight, and I mean every single person. There is a basketball scene with Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston, which had the entire audience in stitches, given how entirely they lampooned their characters. Riz Ahmed is perfectly cast as Prince Farouk, who sort of grounds the film in a sense of reality. Richard Ayoade was channelling his work from The Rat Catcher that absolutely fits this film, where his dry wit is flying a little bit more under the radar than normal before it hits you in the face with a perfect line delivery. Also, shout out to all the young actors who played Zsa-zsa’s children.

Well, Wes Anderson referred to the film as being a “three-hander”, and that was a perfectly apt description. From the moment Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton & Michael Cera appear together in the dining room scene, you can feel the electricity on the screen. Benicio brings the gravitas that you need for a character that starts with complete confidence in himself yet needs to become more rounded as time goes on. As soon as you heard that Michael Cera was going to be in a Wes Anderson film, you instantly knew what a good choice that would be, and I can say he does not disappoint. Everything he does in the movie is such a delight, and you can’t help but feel the joy. Finally, for me, the heart and soul of the film is Mia Threapleton’s performance because I think that she has the most impact on the other characters, and you can feel that warmth permeates throughout the film. She is the moral centre of the film, but she is also profoundly compelling, and that is a tricky tightrope to walk.

There is so much more I want to talk about this film, like how it explores religion in an entirely unexpected, Bill Murray kind of way. There was an honesty to it that you don’t often see come out of Hollywood. But then we also go into these void scenes that explore the afterlife, which should not work, but one hundred per cent do. Then there are the profoundly amusing moments, like how Zsa-zsa is handing out hand grenades like they were some sort of merch or how he knows all the assassins. Oh, and the film takes the time in the credits to explain what all the artworks and books they used in the movie were, so you can find them yourself if you want. How cool was that!

In the end, do we recommend The Phoenician Scheme? Look, if you are a fan of Wes Anderson, I assume you have already prebooked your ticket. But if you have not explored his work before, this is a fantastic jumping-off point for you because I think this might be some of his best work yet. Have you watched The Phoenician Scheme? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked The Phoenician Scheme, we would recommend to you Flow.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Phoenician Scheme
Directed by – Wes Anderson
Story by – Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Screenplay by – Wes Anderson  
Music by – Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography by – Bruno Delbonnel
Edited by – Barney Pilling
Production/Distribution Companies – American Empirical Pictures, Indian Paintbrush, Studio Babelsberg, Focus Features & Universal Pictures.
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, Hope Davis, Bill Murray, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe & F. Murray Abraham with Stephen Park, Alex Jennings, Jason Watkins, Carmen Maja Antoni, Antonia Desplat, Antonia Schröter, Donald Sumpter, Edward Hyland, Kit Rakusen, Milo James, Ogden Dawson, Hector Bateman-Harden, Benjamin Lake, Gunes Taner, Gabriel Ryan, Momo Ramadan, Jonathan Wirtz, Imad Mardnli, Mohamed Chahrour, Bernd Rautenberg & Volker Zack     
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 15; United States: PG-13