'The Phoenician Scheme' by Wes Andersion Review: A great return to Anderson's form

Wes Anderson's Asteroid City was quite a disappointment for me. It was the first time one of his films just didn't register with me. The first time where I felt he had truly lost it and went a bit too much style over substance. The characters uninteresting, the story just all over the place. I love Wes Anderson's films still, especially the ones before The Grand Budapest Hotel where the money really started to flow in and give him more creative potential. Even so, I still love the exaggerated way in which Anderson tells stories. I love that framing and narration, the directing that takes advantage of a boxed aspect ratio and utilises depth within the frame. There aren't many directors quite like him at the same level within Hollywood, and that definitely has led to him both creating many unique things, but also putting himself into this box in which people expect the same thing from him every time. When it came to The Phoenician Scheme, I think it didn't quite land with the general audience again. People still expecting a bit more. Closer to The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Though to me this felt more like a nice mixture between his older films and the stylisation we have grow to love from the director and storyteller. I actually rather enjoyed the film despite sometimes finding some problems with it, but never anything that really made me think he had lost his way, just the usual hiccups that are found within a film since none are perfect. The Phoenician Scheme itself being an engaging story that has an elite coming to terms with the challenges of greed and his tough lack of connection within his family and friends, of which themselves thrive on greed. Market manipulation threatening their monopoly, putting their livelihoods at risk. Our protagonist on a little adventure to fix this and amend his problems with those around him, all while trying to rediscover his life as a father with a troubled daughter that is trying to pursue a life of faith as a Nun.

I quite liked the momentum the story had, it felt like it was constantly in motion, and that was important with a relatively thin cast. The main characters being those under the wing of our protagonist, Anatole. Michael Cera's character a Nord named Bjorn that is specialised in the world of insects, and supposed to teach Anatole new things as Anatole claims to love learning under the limited free time he has. His previous tutor unfortunately blown to pieces during a flight that led to one of many plane crashes and attempts of assassination over Anatole's life. Now, this is of course where much of the comedy comes in, and Anderson is great at displaying gentle moments of dark humour. A very deadpan way of telling stories that are often wrapped in tragedy and violence. Told in very beautiful ways that make it clear that the world they characters live in is certainly dangerous, but also one of great beauty and structure still, often told through the mannerisms of its higher-class characters.

The directing remains as strong as ever, his unique way of telling stories with fun compositions, traditional methods of filmmaking, and the use of camera movements. There are times in which you feel the film is getting a bit repetitive, where the film seems like it is dragging on a bit and needs to wrap things up, but that is felt more towards its end anyway. This isn't a film you'll likely remember a lot from, you won't go thinking about it years later suddenly, but that's fine. It's a simple story and one that's a lot of fun to explore with the time and characters we are given.