‘The Phoenician Scheme’

By Owen Glancy Arts & Features Editor This past summer saw the release of acclaimed director Wes Anderson’s latest feature film, “The Phoenician Scheme.” While many were excited, many more were skeptical. Anderson’s latest works, specifically “The French Dispatch” and “Asteroid City” were divisive even amongst Anderson fans with the main criticism levied against them being that they leaned too far into style and left behind substance. While I personally don’t agree with that testament, there is a reason it’s become so widespread. Anderson’s style has evolved and expanded, becoming so idiosyncratic that his films have started to separate from those he made in the early stages of his career in the 2000s. “The Phoenician Scheme” feels like a return to that era of his filmography. The film follows Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who is summoned home by her estranged father Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) so that she may learn to take over the family business. This is a classic Anderson storyline, playing with his usual themes of estranged families, the effects of wealth on humanity, and how we deal with death and its inevitability. While these themes may be familiar to Anderson, they’re not repetitive. Korda has regular run-ins with death, with someone trying to kill him in what feels like every scene. He’s intimately familiar with death, yet as the film goes along and he becomes more and more attached to the daughter he once left behind, he finds himself more and more frightened by death. del Toro’s performance here is one of his best, solidifying his place as one of Anderson’s new go-to actors as he single-handedly makes Korda the most compelling Anderson protagonist since the duo of Gustave and Zero in “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Outside of del Toro, veteran actor Michael Cera also plays a role as the quirky, bug-obsessed Bjorn Lund. While not quite as good as del Toro, Cera brings a uniquely awkward energy that perfectly fits this role. His hilariously cheesy Swedish accent is the icing on the cake as he proves why he is the perfect fit for Anderson’s style. Despite this being a return to his more focused style of story-telling, this film still retains the evolutions in Anderson’s style that his last two films put forth. Every shot has his signature symmetrical composition. This is “aesthetically pleasing” taken to a ludicrous degree, it’s so incredibly obvious how much control Anderson has over his production design. While not as colorful as something like “The French Dispatch,” the film still obtains that same level of “pizzazz” with its more muted color palette. Sadly, this is where the praise ends. As refreshing as it was to see a more straightforward story from Anderson again, this is clearly not the type of story Anderson likes to tell anymore. The plot takes so many left turns, that it often finds itself getting lost. It feels very much like Anderson is trying to replicate his former films’ style rather than continuing to innovate or to adapt his newer story-telling techniques to this “older” style of his. Many of the performances fail to distract from this as well. Cera and del Toro are acting circles around the entire cast, something that becomes incredibly noticeable when they’re put up against Threapleton’s performance. She does a good job, but when compared to two career bests, it’s hard to find her as compelling. Tons of other big-name actors also show up in this such as Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeffery Wright, and Riz Ahmed, and they unfortunately do not get to do much. While the story definitely does not revolve around them, and they do give memorable performances, they feel incredibly wasted for how talented they all are. Ultimately, “The Phoenician Scheme” is a return to Anderson’s prior style that comes with the ups and downs that returning to his younger self brings. The production design is great, and there’s some excellent performances, but it’s all bogged down by some truly baffling plot decisions and some wasted performances. Korda may be an expert at escaping death, but it seems like even a director as prolific as Wes Anderson cannot escape mediocrity. Rating: B- Myself, I feel very whelmed