Intentionally Internationally Me

The Phoenician Scheme

Wes Anderson’s latest is the story of Zsa-zsa Korda — a wealthy, morally questionable tycoon who has already survived six assassination attempts (Benicio del Toro) — and his estranged daughter, a young nun (Mia Threapleton), whom he suddenly names as the sole heir to his fortune. From there, he drags her along on his next half-shady, half-mad business adventure across the fictional country of Phoenicia. That’s all I’ll say. The plot, frankly, isn’t really the point.

I picked this film because I have always, always loved Wes Anderson’s visual world. I think it goes back to the fact that I have always been drawn to surrealist painting, and for me, Wes Anderson brings exactly that into film. The colours. The absurdity. The strange logic of dream-worlds. And — maybe most importantly — the fact that I don’t need to fully understand what he’s trying to say. I can just freely associate. Every frame opens a small door, and I’m allowed to wander in.

The Phoenician Scheme spoke to me especially because it captures the absurdity of our world — wrapped in beauty, irony, and pastel colours. Every single frame is its own small aesthetic experience, the kind you’d want to pause and frame on a wall. And the humour — that quiet, refined Anderson humour that hides between the lines and in the play of colours — landed for me in a way that some of his more recent films didn’t.

I would absolutely recommend it.