The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

From Oscar-winning director Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Rushmore, The Royal Tannenbaums) comes his latest uniquely framed and acted adventure about a wealthy businessman (Oscar-Winner Benicio Del Toro) who's on a dangerous mission to not only preserve his wealth but also to possibly reconcile with his daughter played by newcomer Mia Threapleton.  Alongside his latest assistant (and insect expert) Bjorn (Michael Cera), they travel around the world encountering a genuinely unique assortment of rival businessmen and/or potential assassins played by an All-Star cast including Tom Hanks, Rupert Friend, Scarlett Johannsen, Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, and Benedict Cumberbatch.  And what results is a colorful, quirky, and symettrical adventure which could only come from the mind of Wes Anderson.

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon

Editor: Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME - 2025

Directed by Wes Anderson

Starring Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Almaric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Rubert Friend, Hope Davis, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Alex Jennings, Charlotte Gainsburg, Steve Park, F Murray Abraham, and Benedict Cumberbatch

Genre: Quirky Comedy Adventure (Audio clip)

Ever since seeing Rushmore in theaters with JUST the right audience to be going nuts during that opening chalkboard sequence, I have learned that I consistently enjoy most of Wes Anderson's movies....but I need to be in the right mindset for them. 🫡 Because usually within the first 90 seconds, you just KNOW you're in one of his movies....high-powered cast of actors trying to look both deglamorized and/or disinterested, symmetrical framing, hightened sets meant to look like a walk-in diorama, and....nary a screen to be seen. :) I could be wrong but I don't think I have EVER seen a computer screen or a smartphone....just about ANYTHING which looks remotely digital!

Not a bad thing mind you but you notice it off the bat considering we're supposed to be enmeshed in the high-powered world of wealthy businessman Zsa Zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro). It's all so charmingly analog...this might very well take place in current day but like most other Wes Anderson vehicles, everything is going be represented in labeled boxes and/or books. The movie opens with a plane crash, but not your TYPICAL plane crash of course....we just see the aftermath: an almost elegantly laid out collection of debris with a few flames and scattered about are books and papers and other tangible STUFF. :) 

You see this is not the first plane crash for Zsa Zsa (it was his private plane) nor the first attempt on his life....nor even the first attempt on his life via a sabotaged plane. :o He's deep in debt and has pissed off a slew of folks, including several business rivals who want him dead. At its core, this ends up being more of a family dramedy/adventure as Zsa Zsa embarks on a mission to pare down his debt attempting to broker new deals with a various big-wigs while also half-heartedly attempting to reconcile with his only daughter Liesl who is in the late stages of becoming a nun. Lies is played by relative newcomer Mia Threapleton in a delightful/ deadpan scene-stealing performance! The third key member of their crew as their travel around the world ends up being Bjorn, Zsa Zsa's latest personal assistant/naturalist tutor (!) played drolly with an accent by Michael Cera in one of HIS better recent performances. 

And on their adventure, they encounter a series of brashly presented men and women of industry portrayed by a STACKED supporting cast including Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett Johannsen, Mathieu Almaric (When did HE become a Wes regular?? No complaints), Richard Ayoade, and Hope Davis. Not a bad performance among them either, they each know the movie they're in. 

Among the supporting players, the highlights for me included Benedict Cumberlatch made up to look more sinister as ever playing Uncle Nubar. Cumberbatch also features heavily in what MIGHT be a first for Mr Anderson: a full-blown fight sequence. :) It happens late in the movie and provides a canny mix of cartoonish slapstick and brutality - of course Anderson puts his own unique spin on it with a keen attention to detail as we witness obvious new injuries showing up on each participant as they go from room to room! 

The screenplay from Anderson and Roman Coppola is definitely structured more as a series of vignettes though there's still a compelling throughline which pulls you through to the end. And with the help of of Oscar-nominated DP Bruno Delbonnel (Amelie, Inside Llewellyn Davis) whom he is working with for the first time, Wes Anderson also crafted a very sumptuous-looking movie filled with images of classic works of art, which are also nicely recounted during the closing credits.

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Parisian-born composer and frequent collaborator of Wes’s…Alexandre Desplat once again returns to conduct another effective score for this film – he’s actually a two-time Oscar winner INCLUDING for his highly memorable rambunctious music for The Grand Budapest Hotel…which also happened to be the last Wes Anderson film I had seen before this one. (Audio clip) 

Now his music for this film is probably more serious and melancholy but no less memorable – very piano-heavy, punctuated by strong strings, and drum beats strong enough to possibly remind you of a paranoid thriller from the 1970’s.  One highlight has to of course be the opening credits which definitely set the tone for what follows – as the credits appear in this cool, unusual blocked text which I can’t quite place, we are stuck in ONE overhead shot of Zsa Zsa’s cavernous bathroom with Zsa himself sitting comfortably in his bathtub…..reading, eating, all being tended to by his staff.  It’s an elegant way to open the story and this track is referred to as “Palazzo Korda.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Regarding Benicio’s Zsa Zsa’s sense of growing mortality – following several assassination attempts - this is also represented in a B&W solemn yet slightly whimsical recurring device where we periodically cut to the gates of heaven (I think) as his spirit undergoes a sorta-trial by several otherworldly higher-ups portrayed by some big-time talents including Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg….and LEAD apparently by God himself played by Bill Murray. (Because of course)

Overall it’s all well-shot and none of these actors EMBARRASS themselves but if I’m being honest, I just DON’T think it adds anything to the movie.  Just a BIT too much unnecessary preciousness padding the story even if Anderson is going for something more spiritual.   

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

An even bigger standout from the supporting cast HAS to be Jeffrey Wright as Marty. In their long-awaited Basquiat reunion, it's a thrill to see him and Del Toro on screen together, just going toe-to-toe. 😉 Definitely two of our most idiosyncratic character actors, they have an extended comically tense exchange about half-way through over of all things....a blood transfusion! They're raising their voices chewing up the screen, it's likely my favorite scene in the movie and I didn't want it to end....

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

In case it wasn't already obvious, this also features what is likely Benicio's BEST performance in quite some time....likely since Sicario or maybe even going back further playing Che. He's funny and charismatic and inquisitive....and he's never playing it for sympathy nor even the more sinister Gordon Gekko-like flourishes. His Zsa Zsa is clearly a prick who has always been a terrible father as well....and what's touching about his overall arc is that while we never quite see him grow warmer as a person, we can sense a clear effort from to just relate to his daughter - Benicio and Mia are pretty great together and their interactions definitely provide the heart of the movie. 

Since FIRST seeing him in his mostly silent but memorable on-screen debut as Dario in previous episode License to Kill back in ‘89, Benicio has just been one of those actors whom I will watch for in just about EVERYTHING.  His early breakout in The Usual Suspects, his AMAZING Oscar-winning turn in Traffic, his scene-stealing theatrics in films as varied as Snatch, Swimming With Sharks, Sin City….his LITERALLY gonzo turn in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas….to even what I consider more disappointing performances in big-time franchise fair like The Last Jedi or Guardians of the Galaxy, I still have never him deliver a bland, boring performance.  Honestly as an actor, he just seems INCAPABLE of not sucking you in, whether he’s going quiet or loud – those eyes, those mannerisms, the way he can always modulate his voice so dramatically – and when teamed up with a genuine auteur like Soderbergh, Innaritu, Villanueve, or Gilliam he shines all the more.   He was long overdue to do something with Anderson and he’s got ANOTHER Anderson he’s working with later this year – PT Anderson, the highly anticipated One Battle After Another…VERY excited for that one.  And the results here with a genuinely tricky role speak for themselves – for delivering what is I believe could be one of his Top Five performances, Benicio Del Toro is the MVP. 

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

Not EVERY precious moment and/or gag landed for me but the hit percentage ended up being relatively high, resulting in a touching, funny, and yes quirky good time. :)

Now Playing in Theaters

And that ends another TWEE review!