Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins.

Experiencing a Wes Anderson film up on the silver screen is always a treat to behold, and his unique mind and complete esoteric style of filmmaking shine in The Phoenician Scheme. Developed alongside longtime collaborator Roman Coppola, The Phoenician Scheme is a genre-splicing black comedy that masquerades as a Cold War-era spy thriller before unravelling into a beautifully bizarre domestic drama about legacy, loneliness, and reconciliation. It’s a film that blurs the boundaries of time, place, and tone — Casablanca meets The Royal Tenenbaums via The Lives of Others, filtered through Anderson’s bespoke lens. In short, it’s a painting of pure Anderson weirdness, and it appears like a work of art come to life

From the very first frame, Anderson’s trademark style roars to life with obsessive precision. The flat-space camera moves, rigid symmetrical compositions, and hyper-detailed production design are all dialled to eleven. But what’s most impressive here is the dynamic interplay between cold and warmth — visually, emotionally, and thematically. A stark industrial palette of slate greys and muted blues gives way to bursts of burnt oranges, crisp turquoises, and golden yellow hues reminiscent of a sun-bleached Mediterranean outpost with Mesopotamian flair. The set design alone is worth the price of admission — a living diorama packed with visual callbacks to 1920s through 1940s cinema, with Casablanca looming especially large as a clear cinematic ancestor.

At the centre of this swirling tale is Benicio del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda, the fabulously eccentric, world-weary arms tycoon who just might be the Richest Man in Europe, and almost certainly the most paranoid. With shades of Howard Hughes, Korda is a mesmerising figure of contradiction: a man drunk on power and riddled with regrets. Del Toro leans into the role with laconic cool and twitchy vulnerability, bringing a heavy-lidded charisma that anchors the story’s emotional weight. His performance is magnetic, and beneath all the deadpan wit and Andersonian absurdity lies a man trying desperately, if clumsily, to repair the frayed threads of family he long abandoned.

Enter Mia Threapleton as Sister Liesl, Korda’s estranged daughter turned novice nun, whose abrupt re-entry into his life acts as the emotional and narrative catalyst for the story. Threapleton is a revelation here. With her deadpan stare and monotonic delivery, she slots effortlessly into Anderson’s peculiar universe, evoking empathy and intrigue in equal measure. Her scenes with del Toro sizzle with tension and tenderness, offering a surprisingly earnest father-daughter arc that serves as the heart of this elaborate narrative clockwork.

And then there’s Michael Cera, finally, finally, in a Wes Anderson film, and it’s as perfect as it sounds. As Bjørn Lund, the neurotic, insect-obsessed private tutor to Korda’s nine sons, Cera steals every scene he’s in. Equal parts bumbling and brilliant, he’s a walking tangle of sweaters, suppressed feelings, and closely guarded secrets. His awkward romance with Liesl is both hilariously odd and genuinely affecting, and his performance serves as a brilliant reminder of how potent Cera’s comic timing can be when paired with the right material, with his delivery and goofiness leading to all sorts of laughs. He was born for this world, and now that he’s here, we never want him to leave.

The rest of the cast is filled out by a collection of fantastic performers, some newcomers, others veterans of Anderson’s creative enterprises, and all make their mark. One particular standout is Richard Ayoade as a trigger-happy Marxist revolutionary named Sergio, while Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston as Leland and Reagan, along with Riz Ahmed as Prince Farouk, lead with del Toro what is the most unexpected and hilarious scene of the entire picture. Benedict Cumberbatch brings a sinister moustache-twirling and villainy to the picture as Uncle Nubar, and he’s bold in his performance, and makes for a presence, and the appearance of a villain that you can’t take your mind off.

What truly sets The Phoenician Scheme apart in Anderson’s filmography, however, is its tonal tightrope walk. While it maintains the filmmaker’s signature whimsy and dry wit, there’s a palpable undercurrent of danger and sadness that gives the story added gravitas. The humour is present, yes, but it’s darker, more ironic, more grown-up. Anderson seems less interested here in crafting a fairy tale and more focused on the existential unravelling of men who once believed they were in control. This is definitely unexpected territory for Anderson to play in, and you have to agree that his choices here in The Phoenician Scheme again mark his stance as one of the boldest filmmakers working today. It’s clear that this entry in his list of works will cause a reaction amongst filmgoers, particularly the Anderson faithful, and many a discussion will be held in relation to this picture.

The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson at his most audacious and evolved. Presenting an inventive espionage tapestry woven with dry wit, emotional sincerity, and aesthetic bravado, it’s a film that surprises as often as it delights, and will certainly cause a reaction from audiences.

Image: Universal Pictures

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Described as “a love letter to journalists set at an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city”, centering on three storylines, and brings to life a collection of tales published in the eponymous The French Dispatch.

Wanting to bring his love for the art of journalism to the big screen and striving to do something different in a narrative sense, while leaning into the structure and tropes of the short story, Wes Anderson brings to audiences The French Dispatch, an undeniably unique cinematic presentation filled with visual panache, dry humour, quirky characters and a wholly especial vision that can only be attributed to the singular voice that belongs to Anderson himself. Modelling his story on his love for The New Yorker and its unique brand of journalism and taking inspiration from the social, political and artistic landscape of the late 1950s to early 1960s, along with injecting his own broad imagination into the arena, Anderson crafts forward The French Dispatch and it’s something else entirely.

Styled as a cinematic ‘magazine’ in its presentation, The French Dispatch draws on one short form narrative ‘The Cycling Reporter’ and three larger articles, ‘The Concrete Masterpiece’, ‘Revisions to a Manifesto’ and ‘The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner’ to tell its narrative and all are overseen by the legendary, but cantankerous editor Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray). It’s a thoroughly different structure and fully invests the audience in Anderson’s story and the fantastical quirky nature of the film’s subject matter only feeds further into the story that Anderson is presenting to his audience and the reaction that this audience has to this material.

Anderson is an artist who attracts the best of the best for his productions and this is a ‘who’s who’ of talent when it comes to the reporters and subjects of The French Dispatch. As subjects, you have the likes of Benicio del Toro as aggressively depressive incarcerated artist Moses Rosenthaler, Adrien Brody as the foppish and arrogant art dealer Julien Cadazio, Timothée Chalamet as the bookish, yet out-spoken student revolutionary Zeffirelli, Stephen Park as the immensely talented police chef Lt. Nescaffier and Willem Dafoe as Albert the Abacus, a wild-eyed gangsters accountant who is the cause of a lot of fuss.

On the other side of the subjects of The French Dispatch are the journalists who document their actions and stories and again the line-up of performers is extraordinary. You have Tilda Swinton as J.K.L. Berensen, art critic and fashionista who has her pulse on the movings of the art world, Frances McDormand as Lucinda Krementz, a grammatically astute reporter and whom is completely unattached who falls into Zeffirelli’s building student revolution, Jeffrey Wright as Roebuck Wright, a dapper and precise food journalist who has a rhythm for words and whose finger is on the pulse of societal affairs and Owen Wilson as Herbsaint Sazerac, a travel writer and staff writer for The French Dispatch. Bringing them all together is the indomitable Bill Murray as the gruff and no-nonsense Arthur Howitzer Jr. the founder and chief editor of The French Dispatch and this is pitch-perfect Murray.

To look upon The French Dispatch is to open your eyes to a film of pure creative expression. As Anderson is known to do, this film is brought together with his unique eye for a perfectly complex level of detail and the film’s visual trappings take up plenty of space upon the screen. Production designer Adam Stockhausen and cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman look to the classic works of the French New Wave in order to build out Anderson’s vision for The French Dispatch and the result is a visually rich and quirky cinematic presentation that audiences are sure to lap up and marvel upon.

Long time fans of Anderson’s unique sense of cinematic quirkiness will fall in love with The French Dispatch and its idiosyncratic visual style and dramatic-comedy mix. It’s a testament to a unique style of storytelling and a celebration of the art form of the journalist and the relationship they share with their subject and it’s a very special cinema presentation.

Image: 20th Century Studios

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When, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, 12-year-old Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

While I can honestly say that I’m fairly new to Wes Anderson’s work I must say that I was extremely impressed by what this auteur filmmaker achieves with his latest project.

Bringing together narrative, style and an astonishing ambience, Isle of Dogs is literally unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Completely conjured from his own mind Anderson has packed out Isle of Dogs with plenty of eccentricities and an equal amount of heart. While he dresses it up with lots of exaggeration at its core this is a film that is about the love between a boy and his dog. I myself have had my own canine best friend and I understand just what it means to be a dog owner and how Anderson chronicles the loyalty of both Atari and Spots to one another really left an impression on me.

While Anderson might be handling the direction of this ambitious project its success is truly down to its collective voice cast. Literally leading the pack is the fabulous Bryan Cranston who portrays alpha dog and stray Chief and he provides a great centre point for the audience to follow as Atari and the rest of the dogs search for Spots on Trash Island. Joining Cranston are the likes of Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannson, Greta Gerwig, Harvey Keitel and Jeff Goldblum and all bring their superb vocal talents to the table.

But this film truly stands out to how remarkable it is by the way that it is constructed and the meticulous detail that the animators get into the clay models that have been created to tell this story. The expressions and movements that they get out of the animated models are pretty incredible and whats more everything has been created in line with stop-motion animation. And I mean everything. Characters, landscapes, props, even special effects. All of it is the result of a fantastic artist at work and it’s pretty incredible to watch. The influence of Japanese culture is also juxtaposed with Anderson’s trademark sepia tone and it produces some very interesting visuals.

If you’re looking for a true cinema experience to really make you sit up and go WOW, well then you’ll find it in Isle of Dogs. This is auteur filmmaking at its highest quality and it certainly leaves an impression. All dogs lovers should watch this movie ASAP.

Image: 20th Century Fox

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