The Phoenician Scheme - Has He Gone Too Far?

Wes Anderson is known for his unique style. From the blunt, straightforward dialogue and humour, to the blocking and lighting making each of his movies look like stage plays, he's carved out an easily recognisable brand with his filmography. However, his newest movie - The Phoenician Scheme - feels slightly off, even though the stylistic approach hasn't changed in the slightest. So has Wes Anderson taken his style too far to the point of butchering it, or does this story simply not work for this director?

The Phoenician Scheme is a journey of the main character, Zsa-Zsa Korda's newest business endeavour. Throughout the movie he attempts to find investors, all of which invest less than he anticipated. While this sounds like a boring concept - it is. This has no real allure to it, for me. There's a few interesting moments that grip you slightly, like the dream sequence with Bill Murray's God, but that's not really explained. I'm sure there's some sort of meaning, like this whole movie represents Korda's journey towards faith, however there just wasn't enough there for me to really sink my teeth into to become interested in the movie as a whole.

The reason I think it's possible that Anderson's style was simply taken too far is that this movie would've benefited with going out of the box slightly every so often. Even possibly just in those dream sequences, to not only detach them from real life, but also represent Korda's mind. I think it may have even benefited from an Ari Aster style, absurdist look at these scenes, as Korda is a very unpredictable and strange man. 

Wes Anderson's style can somewhat feel tiring to watch, as his movies are inherently somewhat boring. That isn't meant as an insult, however, its just that his dialogue and blocking choices bring you into a sense of security, you never really see anything different as it all follows some sort of symmetrical pattern. That security is why breaking this mould for a few sequences could have really benefited, as it would take you aback slightly because what you assumed this whole movie would be and feel like has now been bent.

However, I think the biggest problem with this movie and it feeling off is the lack of conflict. There's that slight moment with the board room but they pretty much disappear early on, so there's nothing you can really sink into - you're just absently watching this untrustworthy man try and fail to get a business endeavour off the ground. A way to improve this greatly would simply be to include that board room more, possibly having some sort of cat and mouse chase throughout the movie.

To conclude, I don’t believe the problem with this movie is solely Wes Anderson’s style, even though it would've been improved greatly by mixing it up a little. The biggest problem is that this story simply may not work with his style, as well as a few wrong turns in creating the story itself. Also there should’ve been more Michael Cera, he was the real star.