Michael Cera’s career has been hitting a pretty good stride in the last few years, starring in solid flicks like “Gloria Bell,” “Barbie” and “Dream Scenario.”
That positive streak continues in his latest appearance, playing a key role in Wes Anderson’s new project. Cera co-stars in the film as Bjorn, alongside Mia Threapleton as Liesl and Benicio del Toro as Korda. The movie centers on Korda, who’s a powerful industrialist staking his empire on an infrastructure project in Phoenicia.
Making it a reality is tricky. Kordo has enemies against him and obstacles to overcome. To navigate the situation, he sets up his daughter, Liesl, to be heir to his throne in case of his demise, and brings her and Bjorn on a wide-reaching journey to make the scheme a reality.
One thing that’s always noticeable with Anderson’s work is his ability to incorporate a lot of emotion and insight into the human condition, despite many of his characters often acting eccentric and/0r odd. There’s a method to the madness with the auteur’s concepts.
That’s once again the case here, and per usual, it works to the film’s advantage. The globe-trotting adventure our trio of protagonists go on allows Anderson to flex his cinematic muscle, adding plenty of flair and attention to detail to really give the viewer impressive sights and sounds.
At the same time, it also allows for some really great interactions with a multitude of interesting characters. More importantly, it provides a great many moments for compelling family drama, as Liesl and Korda reconnect and the latter grows as a person. Additionally, there’s a charming relationship that buds between Liesl and Bjorn.
Anderson, obviously, deserves plenty of credit for the film’s narrative, characters and dialogue. However, praise for the character arcs and the personalities on screen needs to go to the cast as well. That definitely includes del Toro, who gives one of his best performances, and certainly the best work since “Sicario.”
He really manages to play Korda well. The character is stoic, nearly to a fault, which del Toro captures, but also portrays the protagonist’s changing nature as his arc goes on. His coming to terms with his family and future is really convincing, but he keeps his overall personality at the same time.
Cera and Threapleton are also both strong as well. Cera’s character has an interesting path over the course of the picture, which he manages to handle quite well, making for a good multi-faceted figure. Threapleton, meanwhile, is quite strong in playing Liesl, who on the surface appears as a reserved nun, but is shown to have an attitude and cleverness as the plot thickens.
All the classic Anderson staples are at play, too. A cast of wonderful actors such as Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlet Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch and more add a richness to the movie. As does the impressive, fascinating and inventive visual style from Anderson and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel.
“The Phoenician Scheme” is quite the charming globe-trotting (or maybe region-trotting) adventure with unique characters who are still very human. That human story is compelling and thanks to the many fine filmmaking components, much of it works quite well.
The film is more streamlined than previous Anderson flicks, so it’s not quite as complex as “Asteroid City or “The French Dispatch. However, this one is still worth seeing. 4.25 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 
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