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21 hours ago
- Entertainment
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‘The Phoenician Scheme' review: Benicio del Toro grounds the latest Wes Anderson whimsy
In the entry on Wes Anderson in The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (2004), British critic David Thomson said about the American filmmaker: 'Watch this space. What does that mean? That he might be something someday.' This brutal, terse dismissal came after such well-regarded films as The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). The relentless whimsy, the meticulously designed and colour-coded sets that resemble dollhouses or model building kits, the grown-ups who behave like brilliant but emotionally stunted children, the gnomic humour – Anderson annoys some viewers but also has a loyal fan base. His latest film is equally divisive. The Phoenician Scheme is something of a return to form after the follies The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City (2023). The new film isn't at the level of Anderson's superb The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), but at least it's grounded in something resembling the present. In the 1950s, the industrialist Anatole Korda (Benicio del Toro) decides to pass on his fortune to his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who is training to be a nun. Liesl does not cast aside her habit but nevertheless starts following her father as he tries to fund his ambitious Korda Land and Sea Phoenician Infrastructure Scheme. The project claims to bring immense wealth to an underexploited region. Like the buccaneers before him and the Silicon Valley bros after him, Korda promises more than he can deliver. Underfunded and overleveraged – it is debatable what remains for Liesl to inherit – Korda charms an array of investors while dodging assassination attempts by his rivals. Within the predictable quirkiness is a cautionary tale about Western conquerors setting off to conquer far-off lands about which they know little and care even less. The film ever-so glancingly addresses American-style expansionism, whose effects are ricocheting within the present-day boundaries of the place that Korda seeks to exploit. The 105-minute confection is written by Anderson and based on a story by him and Roman Coppola. The packaging is typically impeccable: gorgeous production design by Adam Stockhausen, precise camerawork by Bruno Delbonnel, a charming score by Alexander Desplat. Korda's up-down relationship with Liesl creates tension within the perfectly symmetrical sets, also giving the 105-minute film something of an emotional core, especially in its dying moments. The cast has a staggering number of cameos, from Tom Hanks and Riz Ahmed to Scarlett Johansson and Benedict Cumberbatch. Michael Cera creates an impression as Korda's mysterious secretary. The film belongs to a lovely Benicio del Toro, who has a solidity that weights Korda, a sense of enigma that makes him unpredictable and the sleekness that befits a man with nine lives. The deceitful but also remorseful Korda's wheeling-dealing pauses only to build bridges with his estranged daughter. Del Toro creates layers of depth in a film that gives the illusion of being something more than the sum of its neatly assembled parts. Play
Straits Times
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
The Phoenician Scheme review: Wes Anderson's beautiful but lifeless political satire
At The Movies: The Phoenician Scheme is a lifeless satire while The Life Of Chuck uplifts The Phoenician Scheme (NC16) 110 minutes, opens on June 5 ★★☆☆☆ The story: In 1950, the corrupt and internationally reviled millionaire Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Benicio del Toro) is looking to cement his legacy with a massive construction project in the nation of Greater Independent Phoenicia. However, the tycoon is beset by those seeking his downfall, among them various governments, members of his family and business partners he has betrayed. After surviving a plane crash – the latest in a string of assassination attempts – Korda reconnects with his convent-raised daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), hoping that she will continue his work in case the assassins succeed. Father and daughter, accompanied by Norwegian tutor Bjorn (Michael Cera), head overseas to raise money for the project. When billionaires today get nostalgic about returning the world to a Golden Age, they are thinking about the time when the ultra-rich did the things they do today – sire offspring by as many women as they can, topple and install governments, build empires on the backs of forced labour – but without the annoyance of officials carping about alimony, child support or paying workers a living wage. Korda is American film-maker Wes Anderson's cartoonishly exaggerated version of the 1950s tycoon. The scoundrel has fobbed off his many children to a dormitory that houses them in pauperish conditions. A few of his former wives have died under mysterious circumstances, including Liesl's mother. He cares nothing for his kin. All he worries about is his legacy, the project of the film's title. This is Anderson's most political film since the Oscar-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), which used a fictional setting to explore the real consequences of 1930s fascism. Greater Independent Phoenicia might also be fake, but men like Korda were real, as were his equally wealthy and ruthless associates – Leland (Tom Hanks), his brother Reagan (Bryan Cranston) and Marty (Jeffrey Wright) – each representing an aspect of 1950s crony capitalism of the kind that secured monopolies in mining, shipping and industry in the wake of post-war decolonisation. Also lovingly lampooned are the movements that rose in response to men like Korda. British comedian and writer Richard Ayoade is Sergio, a Marxist rebel seeking to derail Korda's pet project, and Scarlett Johansson is Cousin Hilda, hoping to establish a kibbutz-like utopia in the desert. Despite some funny jokes and clever slapstick, it all feels like an arid exercise in moving chess pieces around a beautifully decorated board. Fine performances by Threapleton and del Toro breathe some humanity into the story, but even they cannot overcome the feeling that The Phoenician Scheme is a trip to an art gallery featuring mid-century aesthetics and not much more. Hot take: Anderson's visually gorgeous but cartoonish satire of post-war power and legacy takes a cool, distant view of a subject that deserves a more emotional assessment. The Life Of Chuck (NC16) 111 minutes, opens on June 5 ★★★☆☆ Tom Hiddleston in The Life Of Chuck. PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION The story: Best-selling American author Stephen King co-scripted this adaptation of his 2020 novella about an everyman named Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston). The Life Of Chuck opens into a world of deluges, wildfires and mass suicides. The internet then crashes in the surest indication of the end times. A schoolteacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a nurse (Karen Gillan) are a divorced couple seeking connection, while puzzling at the sudden proliferation of billboards around their American town congratulating what looks like Marvel Cinematic Universe antagonist Loki on his retirement after '39 great years'. Charles 'Chuck' Krantz is this accountant embodied with mild-mannered charm by British actor Hiddleston. Three chapters will narrate in reverse his orphaned childhood (wonderfully played in succession by Benjamin Pajak, Cody Flanagan and Jacob Tremblay) with his grandparents (Mia Sara and Mark Hamill) to his death at age 39 from cancer, back at the movie's start. The universe is a manifestation of his lived experiences, and its accelerating obliteration of his relationships, memories, every moment of sadness and joy, including an exhilarating impromptu promenade dance to a busker's (played by American dummer The Pocket Queen) drum: This seven-minute centrepiece has gone viral for Hiddleston's fabulous footwork. Here is the humanist King of Stand By Me (1986) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994), rather than the touted 'King of Horror' of American producer, director and writer Mike Flanagan's previous King adaptations – Gerald's Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019). The two constant collaborators are a match in creative sensibilities. Grandpa's haunted attic aside, the only supernatural pondered in their thoughtful and unexpectedly touching metaphysical fable is the wonder of life, even one as ordinary as Chuck's. Hot take: Soppy? Sure. But this uplifting tale on the fullness of the human existence is completely without cynicism. 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Boston Globe
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘The Phoenician Scheme' is a cinematic scam
It's a well-known fact that I am not a fan of Wes Anderson's movies. I find them repetitive, relentlessly twee, and joyless, with actors delivering stilted dialogue as if they were talking robots whose batteries were about to die. This opinion has gotten me into trouble: Some of the angriest—and most racist—e-mails I've received have been after reviews of Anderson's films. His fans make Marvel stans look like pussycats. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up I may not be a fan, but Anderson did get three positive reviews out of me. I thought about what endeared me to ' Advertisement Mathieu Amalric as Marseille Bob, Michael Cera as Bjorn, Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda, Mia Threapleton as Liesl, and Jeffrey Wright as Marty. TPS Productions/Focus Features Advertisement But even at their worst, I used to think Anderson's films were visually interesting. It's the trait for which he's most known and celebrated. But as of late, his films have become rife with eye-scorching ugliness. In 'The Phoenician Scheme' is a 1950s period piece that looks even more obnoxious. The opening credits play atop a bird's eye view of Korda's bathroom as he takes a bath. Its layout resembles a schematic drawing that's mostly made up of a searing white palette. The entire scene is done in one overhead shot populated with white-costumed servants going about their business. The result hurt my eyes so much I had to look away several times. It only gets worse from there, as Korda goes to visit Liesl (Kate Winslet's daughter, Mia Threapleton), the only daughter in his brood of ten children. She's a novice nun dressed in an white outfit that makes her resemble a folded handkerchief with a face. Liesl will be the sole heir to her father's ill-gotten estate, items represented by several neat shoeboxes with labels on them. These boxes also contain information that will help them carry out a scheme in the fictional European country of Phoenicia. Liesl is not interested. She's devout in her faith and believes Korda murdered her mother. He insists that the murder was committed by her Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch, looking like Rasputin with a bad hangover). Proving she's as stubborn as her father, Liesl digs in her heels about taking her vows. But, with people trying (and failing) every ten minutes or so to assassinate Korda, he figures he'd better teach Liesl everything she needs to know before he's killed. She acquiesces. Advertisement I shouldn't imply that no one gets close to successfully offing Korda. He has several near-death experiences where he ascends to Heaven. These are shot in black-and-white, in a different aspect ratio, and feature Willem Dafoe and F. Murray Abraham. God is represented by Bill Murray hiding behind a gigantic beard. Bill Murray stars as God. TPS Productions/Focus Features Back on Earth, Korda swindles a wide variety of characters in cutesy vignettes that repeat the same unfunny joke. The list of victims includes Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston as basketball loving brothers; Jeffrey Wright as an American named Marty; the club owner Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric); and a prince named Farouk (Riz Ahmed). Scarlett Johansson also shows up as Korda's cousin, Hilda, to whom he proposes marriage. Unlike her major role in 'Asteroid City,' she has about three lines in this movie. Every character I just mentioned is dressed in ridiculous makeup and costumes. They each also get a grenade as a present from Korda, which they all accept in the same manner. I'll never understand how Anderson keeps getting casts so large they would make disaster movie maven Irwin Allen jealous. They're just as disposable and interchangeable as Allen's fodder in films like 'The Poseidon Adventure.' But Anderson does manage one major casting success. As Bjorn, an awkward insect specialist hired as a tutor for Liesl, Michael Cera gives a career-best performance. He and Threapleton somehow manage to make Anderson's dreadful dialogue style work. Advertisement Michael Cera as Bjorn and Mia Threapleton as Liesl. TPS Productions/Focus Features There's another director Anderson deserves to be compared to: his fellow Oscar winner, Tyler Perry. If that comparison immediately raised your hackles and stirred your rage, you should seriously look in the mirror and ask yourself why. Despite hiding behind thin and seemingly different plots (the story here is a half-hearted attempt to debate religion vs. capitalist greed), both of these guys keep making the same movie over and over. Neither of them has to change their tired formats. In Perry's case, his fans continue to flock to his repetitive, faith-based movies—with and without Madea. In Anderson's case, film critics dance the Hucklebuck every time he puts out one of these out, forgiving him his trespasses and ignoring the glaring issues his movies have. It's not a coincidence that both Perry and Anderson have movies opening on the same day—at least not in my mind. And it's June 6, the birthday of Damien, Satan's son in 'The Omen,' which is appropriate. ★ THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME Written and directed by Wes Anderson. Starring Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Ceara, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Bill Murray, Mathieu Amalric, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett Johanssen. At Coolidge Corner, Dedham Community Theatre, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 101 min. PG-13 (this is pretty violent for a comedy) Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Euronews
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Film of the Week: 'The Phoenician Scheme' - Wes Anderson's empty shell
After three decades delighting audiences with ornamental eccentricities and highly stylised aesthetics, is Wes Anderson now simply recycling his same old tricks? Worse, has he forgotten that immersive world-building becomes the crafting of empty shells without precious emotional payoffs? On the back of 2023's Asteroid City and judging by this year's offering, it's a frustrating 'yes' on both counts. Set in 1950, The Phoenician Scheme starts off with a bang. Literally. Corrupt tycoon Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Benicio Del Toro), one of the richest men in Europe, is attempting to survive his latest assassination attempt and escape from his sixth plane crash. It's an incredibly promising way to kick things off: explosions, blood, the surprise ejecting of a useless pilot... It's a blast. Once he's come to terms with the fact that his enemies may soon punch his ticket, the industrialist visits his estranged daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) and tells her that she is to be his sole heir. Despite his other nine boys. After entrusting his empire to Liesl, who is training to become a nun and whose pious reservations regarding her father's less-than-ethical practices run deep, Korda enlists her to aid him in his latest business venture. Considering the government is planning to sabotage his most audacious project yet in the fictional country of Phoenicia – the details of which he has neatly contained within shoeboxes – he plans a whistle stop tour to visit investors and donors to collect promised advances on the project. Along for the racketeering ride is Bjorn (Michael Cera, who was born to be a perfect addition to the Andersoniverse).He's a Norwegian tutor specialising in the insect world, who may not be as scholarly or as bumbling as he seems... The trio embark on a fast-paced trip that features glorified cameos from dandies Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), a fez-wearing nightclub owner named Marseilles Bob (Matthieu Amalric), American sailor Marty (Jeffrey Wright) and Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), all the way to the final-level boss - the dastardly Uncle Nubar (a bearded and bushy eyebrowed Benedict Cumberbatch). This all sounds good on paper, but despite a promising pre-credits kick-off and a pleasing pace which lulls you into thinking that dire Asteroid City was a minor mishap and that The Phoenician Scheme could very well be a return to form for Anderson, this latest flight of fancy ends up frustratingly shallow. The rapid-fire and hyper-articulated dialogue falls flat; the starry roll-call of A-listers is wasted; the insistent gag about offering each investor a souvenir hand grenade becomes bizarrely tiresome; and unlike previous offerings The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Grand Budapest Hotel or Fantastic Mr. Fox, nothing registers on an emotional level. As joyful as it is to see Benicio Del Toro playing a nonchalant capitalist with redemption (ish) on the mind, he is given precious little in terms of character evolution – especially when compared to similar Anderson archetypes previously played by Bill Murray, Ralph Fiennes and George Clooney in the three aforementioned (and far superior) adventures. These films had heart and emotional payoffs to match the delightfully offbeat and twee antics. All we get here is twee. Not that Wesheads will be left wanting. They'll still have a great time marveling at production designer Adam Stockhausen's craft, with the impeccably manicured sets and Anderson's devotion to symmetry still a visual treat to behold. But not even an amusing blink-and-you'll-miss-him cameo from Bill Murray playing God during one of the Bergman-esque afterlife segments or Anderson newcomer Mia Threaplton stealing every scene she's in with her spot-on deadpan delivery ('They say you murdered my mother. I feel the need to address this') can save The Phoenician Scheme. Like Anderson's recent output (minus the messy but unfairly maligned The French Dispatch), his latest caper lacks the emotional core that ought to complement the stylish visuals. The director may tick off his treasured hallmarks – precise framing, immaculate detail, neglectful parents seeking their warped version of absolution – but it lacks soul, to the point of toppling into parody. So, while not as pleased with itself as Asteroid City was, this brisker and more linear adventure still gives off the impression that Anderson and his regular co-writing compadre Roman Coppola are simply keen to enjoy themselves more than their audience. Anderson may have become a genre onto himself, but considering The Phoenician Scheme ends up joining Asteroid City as one of his least rewarding films to date, the master of the meticulously crafted confection should do well to remind himself the following: sacrificing human depth in favour of quirk for quirk's sake will only make audience members nostalgic for his older and far less empty spectacles. Even The French Dispatch apologists. The Phoenician Scheme is out in cinemas now.
Arab Times
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab Times
Anderson gets even Wes-er in his latest
LOS ANGELES, May 29, (AP): 'They say you murdered my mother,' the young would-be nun tells the shady tycoon. 'I feel the need to address this.' There's something about the deadpan delivery and the cleareyed manner that makes you sit up and take notice of Liesl, and even more of Mia Threapleton, who plays her in 'The Phoenician Scheme.' (And there's another thing, too obvious to ignore: Boy, does she ever resemble her mom, Kate Winslet.) A vivid presence despite her dry-as-dust tone, Threapleton makes a splendid Andersonian debut here as half the father daughter duo, along with Benicio Del Toro, that drives the director's latest creation. Their emerging relationship is what stands out amid the familiar Andersonian details: the picture-book aesthetic. The meticulous production design (down to those fascinating closing credits). The chapter cards. The 'who's who' of Hollywood cameos. And most of all the intricacy, elaborate, nay, labyrinthine plot. Indeed, Anderson seems to be leaning into some of these characteristics here, giving the impression of becoming even more, well, Wes Anderson than before. He will likely delight his most ardent fans but perhaps lose a few others with the plot, which becomes a bit exhausting to follow as we reach the midpoint of this tale. But what is the Phoenician scheme, anyway? It's a sweeping, ambitious, somewhat corrupt dream of one Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Del Toro), one of the richest industrialists in Europe, to exploit a vast region of the world. We begin in 1950, with yet another assassination attempt on Korda's life - his sixth plane crash, to be exact, which occurs as he sits smoking a cigar and reading about botany. Suddenly, in a hugely entertaining pre-credits sequence, Korda's in the cockpit, ejecting his useless pilot and directing his own rescue, asking ground control whether he should crash into a corn or soybean field. The media mourns his passing - and then he turns up, one eye mangled, biting into a husk of corn. As usual, reports of his death have been … you know. Recovering at his estate, with some truly fabulous, tiled bathroom floor, Korda summons Liesl from the convent where he sent her at age 5. He wants her to be his sole heir - and avenger, should his plentiful enemies get him. His plans are contained in a series of shoeboxes. But Liesl isn't very interested in the Korda Land and Sea Phoenician Infrastructure Scheme. What she wants to know is who killed her mother. She also mentions they haven't seen each other in six years. ('I apologize,' he says.) And she wonders why none of his nine sons, young boys he keeps in a dormitory, will be heirs. But Korda wants her. They agree to a trial period. We do get the creeping feeling Liesl will never make it back to the convent - maybe it's the red lipstick, or the affinity she's developing for jewels? But we digress. We should have mentioned by now the tutor and insect expert, Bjørn. In his first Anderson film but likely not the last, Michael Cera inhabits this character with just the right mix of commitment and self-awareness. 'I could eat a horse,' he muses in a silly quasi- Norwegian accent before lunch, 'and easily a pigeon!' Now it's on the road they go, to secure investments in the scheme. We won't get into the financial niceties - we writers have wordlength limits, and you readers have patience limits. But the voyage involves - obviously! - a long line of characters only Anderson could bring to life. Among them: the Sacramento consortium, aka Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston, two American guys who hinge their financial commitment on the outcome of a game of HORSE. Next it's to Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), and then to Marty (Jeffrey Wright), leader of the Newark Syndicate (we're not talking Jersey here, but Upper Eastern Independent Phoenicia), who offers a blood transfusion to Korda because, oh yes, he was shot by terrorists at the previous meeting. (Don't worry, the guy's indestructible.) Then there's Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson, continuing the cameo parade), whom Korda seeks to marry to get her participation in the investment. And then back on the plane, the group is strafed by a fighter jet. Soon, it'll be revealed that one of them is a mole. We won't tell you who, although it's hard to tell if anything is really a spoiler here - like the part when Benedict Cumberbatch appears with a very fake beard as Uncle Nubar, who may be someone's father or may have killed someone, and engages in a slapstick fight with Korda, complete with vase-smashing. We also shouldn't tell you what happens with the big ol' scheme - it was all about the journey, anyway. And about Korda and Liesl, who by the end have discovered things about each other but, even more, about themselves. As for Liesl, at the end, she's clad stylishly in black and white - but definitely not in a habit. As someone famously said about Maria in 'The Sound of Music,' 'somewhere out there is a lady who I think will never be a nun.' 'The Phoenician Scheme,' a Focus Features release, has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association 'for violent content, bloody images, some sexual material, nude images, and smoking throughout.' Running time: 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
