The Phoenician Scheme

I am a big fan of Wes Anderson (I think The Grand Budapest Hotel is a masterpiece) so I took my nephew to see The Phoenician Scheme at the Broadway last night.  Those who are not already fans of Anderson's quirky and idiosyncratic style will probably not enjoy this but I absolutely loved it!  Wealthy business tycoon Anatole "Zsa Zsa" Korda (Benicio del Toro) has a near death experience during the latest of several assassination attempts on his life in which he is forced to defend his worthiness to enter heaven.  Shaken, he decides to make contact with his estranged daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a novitiate nun, and proceed with a plan to improve the infrastructure of Phoenicia.  However, Agent Excalibur (Rupert Friend) and a consortium of other government agents from around the world attempt to disrupt his plan by manipulating the cost of building supplies.  Korda enlists Liesl and Bjorn Lund (Michael Cera), a Norwegian etymologist acting as his tutor, to accompany him as he meets with all of his business partners in order to coerce them into covering the gap in funding.  These include Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), the crown prince of Phoenicia, Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), brothers from Sacramento, Marseilles Bob (Mathieu Amalric), a gangster and nightclub owner, Marty (Jeffrey Wright), a fast talking businessman from Newark, Hilda Sussman-Korda (Scarlett Johansson), his second cousin, and Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch), his estranged half-brother.  Along the way, Korda survives an attack by a revolutionary guerrilla (Richard Ayoade), several more assassination attempts, and an attack by Nubar before deciding to fund the scheme himself, which will bankrupt him, in order to retire and live a simple life with Liesl.  I listed the usual characteristics of a Wes Anderson movie (a specific color palette to denote a mood, symmetrical shot composition, stylized production design, long tracking shots, elaborate title cards, deadpan delivery, an ensemble cast with recurring actors, and melancholy themes about dysfunctional families) for my nephew and he said he found all of them!  However, I found this to be one of Anderson's most philosophical movies with an incredibly touching redemption arc (I loved the black and white scenes in heaven with a hilarious cameo by Bill Murray as God).  I loved the relationship that develops between Korda and Liesl as he slowly realizes how amoral his business practices are and she comes to understand that he loves her the only way he knows how (Threapleton's performance is brilliant).  This is really funny but, as always, the humor is subtle and I was sometimes the only one in the audience laughing (a lot of the comedy comes from Cera's performance and I propose that he be in every future Wes Anderson movie).  I thoroughly enjoyed this (The Grand Budapest Hotel is still my favorite but this is one of his best) and recommend it to fans of the director.