After its Cannes premiere, Finnish film critic Joonatan Itkonen wrote that THE PHEONICIAN SCHEME was Anderson’s most successful attempt at “crafting a stop-motion animation in reality“ and that’s an apt way to describe his newest feature. As if wound up, Anderson's characters purr at right angles through sets that look like dollhouses, rattling off their rapid-fire dialogue like those coin-operated machines that tell fairy tales. The plot is as linear as a to do list: the very assassination- prone uber oligarch Zsa Zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) has a megalomaniac business plan which requires him to visit all of his business partners. He takes his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who actually wants to become a nun, as an heiress on trial, as well as Norwegian tutor Björn (Michael Cera), whose field of expertise is entomology.

There are new negotiations at every stop which take the form of surreal male rituals. There are lies, then shouts, then deals. On the other hand, the inner coherence of these scenes gets lost in an incredible abundance of meticulously crafted subplots, visual details and ever-new star cameos (Benedict Cumberbatch as the nemesis, Scarlett Johansson as the ex-love interest, Richard Ayoade as the rebel leader, Bill Murray as God), which is as tiring as it is fascinating. It is all held together rather loosely through a typical Andersonian rhythm of repetition, variation, and running gangs and through the trio at the center, with whom Wes Anderson adds another motley crew to his quirky retro misfits who come together as a nihilistic union of convenience.

Hendrike Bake (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy