The Phoenician Scheme Parent Guide

It is 1950, and Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro) is trying to pull off one of the riskiest business ventures in history. It’s a multi-part plan for the infrastructure development of Phoenicia, involving a trans-mountain train tunnel, a large hydroelectric dam, a sizeable canal, and public works all around. To pay for this massive project, Korda has corralled a stable of increasingly uneasy investors, but even then, he has The Gap – a massive shortfall between funding and costs - which must be resolved.

Not everyone is as keen as Korda for this project to succeed, and a shadowy consortium has been making repeated attempts on his life. Since he always seems to survive, they’re adopting a new strategy: Market manipulation. The Gap is now growing.

Korda has other considerations too: despite having nine sons, his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton) is his sole legal heir, and he hopes to groom her to assume his place. The only catch? Liesl is an aspiring nun who plans to take her vows at the end of the month.

In The Phoenician Scheme, the usual madcap Wes Anderson hilarity abounds in spades, with vibrant weirder-than-life characters in absurd situations saying insane things. There’s also an all-star cast, which includes Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Richard Ayoade, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch, to name a few. The film’s goofy and playful with a deliberately dark sense of humor, and it is quite fun. I haven’t heard this many laughs in a theater for a while.

If you’re not a Wes Anderson fan, though, The Phoenician Scheme might be a tough sell. It has Anderson’s stamp all over it. I did find that the film had a lot less structure than something like Grand Budapest Hotel, leaning more toward Asteroid City, although less abstract. There are still many strong moments, and Anderson’s considered cinematography makes even slightly tedious scene sparkle, but this production doesn’t have the consistency and polish of some of his other work.

I had a good time, though, and from the sounds of it, so did the rest of the audience in the screening I attended. The film isn’t long, and it bounces from one insane idea to another with a certain abandon that I did enjoy. I wouldn’t, however, recommend this as an entry point into Anderson’s catalogue. There are easier ways to pick up his particular style, and this option is a long jump into the deep end.