Films for Breakfast

Wes Anderson is one of those rare directors whose signature style is instantly recognizable, even if you walked into a theater completely blind to the fact that you were about to watch a Wes Anderson film. Yet, remarkably, that style never feels stale or redundant despite him maintaining aesthetic consistency for over twenty years now. In fact, his meticulous attention to detail remains one of the most consistently dependable elements in contemporary cinema. With The Phoenician Scheme, which is his twelfth feature-length film, feels like a familiar return to form from his more sporadic and narratively ambitious ventures like Asteroid City and The French Dispatch.

The Phoenician Scheme follows European tycoon Zsa-Zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), who has built a global empire using questionable business practices. The film opens with Korda barely escaping one of numerous assassination attempts he often endures, which leads him on a mission to appoint an heir to his estate – his estranged and only daughter Liesel (Mia Threapleton), who has devoted her life to becoming a nun. The film is filled to brim with other zany characters, but at its core, is a father-daughter story; and that’s what it is so great about it.

In typical Wes Anderson fashion, the film is filled to the brim with fantastic actors turning in marvelous performances. Benicio del Toro is an incredibly reliable actor who often doesn’t get top billing in most films he appears in, but he is so utterly fantastic in The Phoenician Scheme that I can’t help but believe that will change. His comedic timing and delivery are top notch, but he carries himself with such confidence and swagger that he instantly climbs the ranks of Wes Anderson’s best characters. The dramatic beats for his character really reflect off of Mia Threapleton’s performance, who is as equally fantastic and nearly steals the show with her dry wit. She very quietly becomes the heart of the film and their shared chemistry is nothing short of wonderful.

It would be hard to write a single paragraph praising the supporting cast, which could be said for just about any Wes Anderson film – but I was particularly impressed by Michael Cera here, who is so effortlessly funny and I’m so pleased to see him working with directors of this caliber. Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Bryan Cranston all turn in memorable performances as well. The large cast, however, never distracts from how personal of a story Wes is telling this time around – and I think that’s one of the films’ most admirable components.

To praise the technical components of a Wes Anderson film feels like a pointless endeavor because they are all so equally polished and perfected – but The Phoenician Scheme had me as equally in awe of the craft on display, so I must praise his work once again. From a gorgeous overhead shot in the opening credits to the hilarious use of camera pans for comedic effect, Anderson is so clearly a master of the craft at this point. The production design, costume design, and cinematography are all once-again big pluses here, as they only add to how immersive this world is.

The writing from Wes Anderson is incredibly top-notch on a comedic front, as the film is filled with some instantly iconic gags that had me laughing so hard I nearly teared up. However, Anderson’s magic is often how he balances the comedy and absurdity with the character drama. Asteroid City was a great example of this, though I think that film bites off a tad bit more than it can chew by the end, despite it still being extremely solid. Phoenician Scheme trims the fat and makes for a more lean and character focused story, which for my money, made it all the more effective.

My only real “gripe” with The Phoenician Scheme is hardly even an issue, but just something that holds me back from putting it within my top five favorite Wes Anderson films – it feels within making its narrative a bit more focused, it loses out on the scope of what made something like The Grand Budapest Hotel so special; a film I easily consider to be his best. While there are large ideas on display here about family, religion, greed and power, I don’t know if they are as adequately explored as they could have been. The film still more than sticks the landing, but a bit more meat on the bone in these areas would have skyrocketed the film to the top of Wes’ filmography.

All in all, The Phoenician Scheme is my favorite film from Wes Anderson in over a decade. While he has been hitting fairly consistently for the last few years, I believe this marks a true return to form for him making a more concise and hilarious exploration of broken characters who are so radically different from one-another. It has memorable gags, lovable and zany characters, and is absolutely stunning to look at for the entirerty of its running time. What more could one ask for?