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Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The return of ‘Bleak Week,' plus the best films in L.A.
Hello! I'm Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. Following its recent premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, 'The Phoenician Scheme,' the new film by Wes Anderson, opens in Los Angeles this weekend. Each new Anderson picture still feels like something of an event, simply because it is so fun to see what he is up to this time, what idiosyncratic subset of the world will he explore and make his own. Personally, I have been taken with how densely packed his last few films have become. 'The French Dispatch' and 'Asteroid City' had a layered approach to storytelling that took some time to fully unpack. So it is likely 'The Phoenician Scheme' has yet to reveal itself, in need of some extended unraveling of its energetic story of an ambitious 1950s international businessman, Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Benicio del Toro, who we spoke to for our summer preview), and his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), on an a series of business deals. The cast, typical for Anderson, is packed, also including Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Richard Aoyade, Riz Ahmed, Charlotte Gainsbourg and many more. (Never fear, Willem Dafoe and Bill Murray are in there somewhere.) In a review of the film, Amy Nicholson wrote, 'Lately, Anderson has been on a tear of using his perfectionist aesthetic to defend the act of ambition itself — to honor artisans who create masterpieces in a world of philistines. The only thing he loves more than a carved credenza (and here, they're decorated with hieroglyphics) is the craftsperson who made it and the aesthete who bought it, instead of settling for something disposable. I was never a fan of Anderson's until 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' clicked him into focus. It was hard to believe he knew what he was talking about when his earlier movies tried to sell us on love between human beings. But a hotelier's love of his linens? That I'll buy.' Amy added, 'It's not that you have to believe that there is a force out there more powerful than Zsa-zsa, or heck, even money itself. But if that doesn't move you, at least Anderson deserves reverence for negotiating how to get all these A-list talents to act in his movie for peanuts. He's managed to build yet another dazzler, a shrine to his own ambition and craft. And while it sometimes feels a bit drafty in the corners, the accomplishment itself is plenty.' The fourth edition of the American Cinematheque's 'Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair' program begins Sunday with screenings at all three of its local venues through Saturday, June 7. Having already expanded to the Paris Theatre in New York last year, Bleak Week is now spreading to several more cities and venues: the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Ore.; the Music Box Theatre in Chicago; the Texas Theatre in Dallas; Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis; Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston; and the Prince Charles Cinema in London. 'We look to expand our never-ending film festival whenever possible,' said Grant Moninger, artistic director of the American Cinematheque, via email, of the program's ongoing expansion. This year's series will open with a 35mm screening of Akira Kurosawa's 1952 'Ikiru' at the Egyptian Theatre introduced by Bill Hader. French filmmaker Claire Denis will be present for screenings of a handful of her titles, including a 35mm presentation of 2001's 'Trouble Every Day' with a Q&A moderated by Barry Jenkins. Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold will be present for a tribute, including films they have made together and Corbet's separate acting work. To be screened: Michael Haneke's 'Funny Games,' Lars von Trier's 'Melancholia,' Fastvold's 'The World to Come' and Corbet's 'The Childhood of a Leader' and 'Vox Lux.' Other Bleak Week highlights include John Hillcoat's 2005 'The Proposition' with a Q&A with the filmmaker and cast, Michael Curtiz's 1950 'The Breaking Point' in 35mm and Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1943 'Day of Wrath' screened from a nitrate print. What may once have seemed a slightly cracked idea has grown into one of the Cinematheque's signature programs. And there is no end in sight. 'After year one, which had 33 films, we had the worry that maybe we would have no titles left for next year — if there even was a second edition,' said Chris LeMaire, senior film programmer, via email. 'But each time we start programming the next Bleak Week, there seem to be endless possibilities.' 'Our lineup this year in L.A. has 55 films and we probably cut another 50 titles from our initial list,' added LeMaire. 'Across all the venues, Bleak Week includes over 100 titles this year, from all corners of the world and all eras of cinema history, from as early as 1919 to 2025. We're never going to run out because many of the greatest films deal with the human condition, which naturally leads to some difficult truths.' Alan Arkin's 1971 'Little Murders' will screen in 35mm with a Q&A with star Elliott Gould moderated by screenwriter Larry Karaszewski. A screening of the black-and-white director's cut of 2007's 'The Mist' will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Frank Darabont and actor Thomas Jane. Filmmaker Costa-Gavras and producer Michèle Ray-Gavras will be present for a double-bill of 1982's 'Missing' and 1970's 'The Confession.' Actor Gabriel Byrne will be at a 35th anniversary screening of Joel and Ethan Coen's 1990 'Miller's Crossing.' I will be moderating a Q&A with Gus Van Sant following a screening of 'Last Days.' There will also be the U.S. premiere of a 4K restoration of 'Christiane F.' and the West Coast premieres of 4K restorations of 'Withnail and I,' 'Forbidden Games,' 'The Sweet Hereafter' and 'Happiness.' (A Q&A for 'Happiness' will feature performers Lara Flynn Boyle and Camryn Manheim, moderated by Vera Drew.) Where downbeat entries like Mark Romanek's 'Never Let Me Go,' Ryan Coogler's 'Fruitvale Station,' Narcisco Ibáñez Serrador's 'Who Can Kill A Child?' or Elem Klimov's 'Come and See' more obviously fall within the thematic concept of 'Bleak Week,' titles such as Bennett Miller's 'Moneyball' or Boaz Davidson's 'The Last American Virgin' do not make such an apparent fit. 'We work outside of academic and algorithmic models,' said Moninger. 'This allows for an emotional reaction to films and a more expansive Bleak Week program. The festival is a tapestry of bleak moments and feelings that can be presented in all types of cinema, including the occasional comedy. We are not measuring the hopelessness of each film but creating something by bonding together a wide variety of challenging, unpromising cinema, which I hope builds to something positive.' This weekend the UCLA Film & Television Archive will be hosting ''Going My Own Way' Celebrating Ivan Dixon,' a tribute to the actor and filmmaker, including the local premiere tonight of a new 35mm print of the restoration of his 1973 film, 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door.' The film tells the story of the first Black CIA officer (Lawrence Cook), who leaves his token position at the organization to use what he learned there to train a Black guerrilla fighting force in Chicago. 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door,' which was added to the National Film Registry in 2012, had a truncated release with it first came out due to its revolutionary politics, with some accounts that the FBI became involved in suppressing it. 'It's just one of the most powerful meditations on the meaning of freedom that I've ever seen,' said UCLA programmer Beandrea July. 'It's so nice to see a movie that really knows what it is and doesn't apologize for it. It doesn't equivocate, it's not trying to explain itself to people who aren't interested in really understanding. It's so satisfying to watch because it's like finally someone actually speaks to the thing with the same oomph that the thing demands.' On Saturday, along with the second screening of the film, there will be a showing of Christine Acham and Clifford Ward's 2011 documentary 'Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door,'' which examines the long saga of the film, its reception and release. Acham will be present at screenings throughout the weekend as will Nomathande Dixon, Ivan Dixon's daughter, as well as Natiki Hope Pressley, daughter of Sam Greenlee, author of the book on which the film is based. Dixon, who died in 2008 at age 76, was best known for his role as Sgt. James Kinchloe on TV's 'Hogan's Heroes,' a part he left before the show had ended to move behind the camera and begin a prolific career directing for television. Also screening will be the 1964 film 'Nothing but a Man' starring Dixon and directed by Michael Roemer, who died just last week at age 97. The film tells the story of racial tension in a small town; Dixon considered the film his favorite of his performances. The film will be paired with a 1960 episode of 'The Twilight Zone' starring Dixon and Kim Hamilton. The series will conclude Sunday with two pieces Dixon directed for television, 1983's 'Frederick Douglass: Slave and Statesman,' starring 'Blacula's' William Marshall, and an adaptation of Philip Hayes Dean's 'The Sty of the Blind Pig' starring Mary Alice and Scatman Crothers. The Dixon family lived for many years in Altadena. What was once their home was destroyed in the January fires, a circumstance that gives the weekend an even greater emotional resonance. 'It's special for the family because his wishes were never to have a memorial,' said Nomathande Dixon. 'And this is something that feels like a tribute to him in our hometown of L.A. So we're very appreciative of that. And I think he would've been thrilled.' 'Michael Clayton' in 35mm At Vidiots on Saturday will be a 35mm screening of 2007's 'Michael Clayton' with writer-director Tony Gilroy in person. The film marked the feature directing debut for Gilroy, who previously had a successful career as a screenwriter and has gone on to be showrunner of the recent series 'Andor.' George Clooney stars in the film as a fixer for a powerful New York City law firm. He finds himself drawn into an already complicated situation involving defending an agricultural conglomerate in a class-action lawsuit when one of the firm's top lawyers (Tom Wilkinson) has a nervous breakdown. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, with Tilda Swinton winning for supporting actress for her role as the conglomerate's chief counsel. In his original review of the film, Kenneth Turan wrote, 'Watching this film makes you feel that Gilroy, best known for writing credits on all three 'Bourne' films, has poured the energy pent up during a decade and a half in Hollywood into this strong and confident directorial debut about desperate men searching for redemption in a cold and ruthless world. … As a director, Gilroy has an unmistakable instinct for the emotional jugular and a breakneck storytelling style that pulls you through his movie, no stragglers allowed.' Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst with 'The Virgin Suicides' On Sunday afternoon, the Academy Museum will screen Sofia Coppola's 1999 feature debut, 'The Virgin Suicides' with the filmmaker and star Kirsten Dunst in person. (There will also be a signing for Coppola's new book of Corinne Day's on-set photos from the film.) The story of five sisters in 1970s Michigan who all die by suicide, the film set the stage for Coppola's gently incisive explorations of female interiority and a recurring collaboration with Dunst. In his original review of the film, Kevin Thomas wrote, 'Sofia Coppola shows an impressive maturity and an assured skill in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides' novel 'The Virgin Suicides' to the screen for her directorial debut. As the title suggests, it's a challenging undertaking that requires a smooth passage from pitch-dark humor to a stark finish. The result is a highly affecting film unafraid to exact an emotional toll. … While subtle in the utmost, Coppola leaves us with an understanding of how things could turn out as they did.' 'Frances Ha' and 'Girlfriends' The New Beverly will host a double feature of Noah Baumbach's 2012 'Frances Ha' and Claudia Weil's 1978 'Girlfriends,' two sharply insightful portraits of female friendship, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 'Frances Ha' was the first screenplay co-written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, both who would (of course) go on to collaborate on the script for the mega-successful 'Barbie,' directed by Gerwig. In 'Frances Ha,' Gerwig plays a 20-something woman coming to grips with life as an adult while struggling to accept the end of a friendship by which she has long defined herself. In his original review of the film, Kenneth Turan declared it 'Effortless and effervescent, 'Frances Ha' is a small miracle of a movie, honest and funny with an aim that's true.' Of Gerwig and Bambach's collaboration, he noted, 'For the actress, a quicksilver presence with a fluid face who couldn't be more natural on screen, 'Frances' is an opportunity to build a character of unexpected complexity. For the director, having a gifted collaborator able to be so completely present adds a lightness his films have not always had and has made possible an irresistible command of the moment.' I spoke to Baumbach and Gerwig about the film when it was premiering at film festivals in Telluride and Toronto. 'The writing of it and the acting of it were separate for me,' Gerwig said at the time. 'The writing of it was such a huge thing, but the acting of it was scary. I really was worried I wouldn't be right for it.... It didn't feel like, 'I wrote this great part, and I'm perfect for it.'' 'I can say I totally had Greta in my head,' Baumbach said. 'I always thought, 'I can't wait for Greta to play this part.'' 'Girlfriends' stars Melanie Mayron as Susan Weinblatt, a young photographer in New York City, who finds her life starting to unravel when her best friend (Anita Skinner) moves out of the apartment they share together. The supporting cast also includes Christopher Guest, Bob Balaban and Eli Wallach. Selected for the National Film Registry in 2019, the film was praised by Stanley Kubrick when it was originally released; he declared it 'one of the very rare American films that I would compare with the serious, intelligent, sensitive writing and filmmaking that you find in the best directors in Europe.' Lena Dunham likewise sparked to the film, once recalling of her first viewing, 'It felt eerie, in the true sense of the word, how familiar this film was to me. … I almost thought, 'Have I seen this and been gently ripping it off for the last five years?''
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘There's no skimming a Wes Anderson script': ‘The Phoenician Scheme' cast on working with the director
According to , the idea for his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, began with the main character, Zsa-zsa Korda, played by Benicio del Toro. 'I had an idea of a tycoon, a euro tycoon but in the course of time it started mixing with my father-in-law, my wife's father, who was an engineer and a businessman. A kind, warm person, but very intimidating,' Anderson shared during a press conference for the Focus Features film on Wednesday. The film includes a star-studded ensemble including Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, and Mia Threapleton and explores themes of faith, personal transformation, and complex family relationships. Del Toro, who previously worked with the Oscar-winning filmmaker on The French Dispatch, embraced the complexities of his role. 'It's layered, it's full of contradictions, which makes it really yummy for an actor,' he said. More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' The emotional core of the story is the relationship between del Toro's character and his daughter, played by Threapleton. The actress — whose profile has been steadily rising with acclaimed performances in A Little Chaos and Shadows and who is the daughter of Kate Winslet — immersed herself deeply in the part. 'I had three months from the time of finding out to when I landed in Berlin,' she said. 'I talked to a deacon of the Catholic church, went to Rome ... read the Bible, chatted with Wes about portions of the Bible. I read the script five times in my first week,' she added, driven by what she called 'overwhelming excitedness' and a desire to absorb every detail. That level of detail is a hallmark of Anderson's screenplays, something the entire cast acknowledges. 'There is no skimming in a Wes Anderson script,' says Cranston, who reunites with the director after narrating Isle of Dogs. 'If you miss one little bit, it's not going to track.' Cranston and Hanks arrived in Berlin together for filming and were quick to recognize the magnitude of del Toro's role. 'Basically, most of the conversation Tom and I had on set was, 'Oh my God, what can we do for him?'' Cranston recalled. Del Toro himself admitted that the dialogue-heavy nature of the script presented a challenge — but one he ultimately trusted. 'I went up to Wes and said, maybe we can take this dialogue out,' he said. 'And then I went back to it and it wasn't as good. ... I had to go up to him and go, I think you need to put it back.' Despite the film's structured aesthetic and meticulous scripting, the cast described the filming process as unexpectedly liberating. 'Because Wes is so clear and clearly having so much fun doing this, you kind of just don't think about the plan,' Threapleton explained. 'You're just in the moment. You're actually in that world.' That immersive atmosphere even extended to the costumes. During early fittings, Threapleton improvised a crucial part of her character's look. 'There was a napkin from lunch that was not stained with anything,' she said. 'I quickly pinned this thing to my head and Wes came over ... did that little adjustment thing he does and apparently that's what happened with the veil.' The film also features Michael Cera and Willem Dafoe, along with Johansson, who continues her long-running collaboration with Anderson. The director noted that casting often unfolds organically during the writing process. 'The part for Scarlett, we did think, OK, if Scarlett will do this … then we had her in mind for that,' Anderson said. 'Many of the roles, we sort of cast them as we go. I tend to send the email people and say, this could be maybe October—try to kind of get on the books.' The The Phoenician Scheme hits theaters May 30 and expands wide on June 6. Best of GoldDerby Marilyn Monroe movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best Clint Eastwood movies: 20 greatest films ranked worst to best Morgan Freeman movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best Click here to read the full article.
New European
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New European
Richard Linklater and the new wave of new wave
This isn't a documentary, but a drama that recreates the Paris of 1959, the streets and the cars and the cafes and the clothes, all shot in black and white, just like the masterpiece of iconoclastic indie film-making itself, the one that defined the new wave of this film's title. Sometimes, it's like they make the movies just for you. Who else would possibly enjoy this? I wondered, as I sat there in Cannes' main temple of cinema, the Grand Theatre Lumiere, dedicated to those founding brothers of the movies, Auguste and Louis Lumiere, watching a film all about the making of another film, the one that practically reinvented cinema: Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle. Directed by American indie stalwart Richard Linklater and shot entirely in French, Nouvelle Vague could come across as indulgent and niche. I hope so. The more indulgent, the nichier the better, say I. But if you love French cinema and love Paris and love À bout de souffle (and let's face it, if you do the two former, it's probably due to the brilliance of the latter), then you'll love Nouvelle Vague. I settled into my seat and realised I was in the sweet spot of my happy place. If you don't know the many stories behind À bout de souffle, Linklater's effortlessly amiable film will fill you in. He describes it as: 'The story of Godard making À bout de souffle, told in the style and spirit in which Godard made À bout de souffle.' So there must be some licence taken even if I think everything here is true, or at least it feels that way – which, as Godard himself might say, is all you need for a movie. Using mostly unknown French actors, Linklater introduces us to the main instigators of this zeitgeisty mid-century moment, including François Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard), Claude Chabrol (Antoine Besson), Éric Rohmer (Côme Thieulin) and JLG himself (a superbly accurate Guillaume Marbeck, swathed in cigarette smoke and dark glasses) as well as actors Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) and Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch, fabulous). Then there are what one might term the lesser-known creatives such as cinematographer Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat) and stills photographer Raymond Cauchetier (Franck Cicurel), whose images were equally instrumental in defining the era. So, yes, it's a sort of faux documentary at times: whenever the characters are introduced on screen, they pause for a couple of seconds and stare at the camera in a composed tableau, as if posing for an old-fashioned still photograph, while their names come up on the screen. There's a whiff of Wes Anderson whimsy here, but the film is nothing like Anderson's archly American The French Dispatch. Linklater is immersed in the moment, in the spirit of '59, the better to make us feel the fun of it all, the breezy joie de vivre that's still instantly conjured up whenever you think of À bout de souffle. So the film takes us through the agonies of Godard's jealousy watching his fellow film critics at Cahiers du Cinéma make their film debuts, and his conversations with producer Georges de Beauregard before he launches into the 20-day shoot of À bout de souffle, writing by hand the day's pages in a cafe every morning (there was never a script), ending the day's filming when he's run out of ideas, making it up on the spot, smoking, smoking, smoking, and cutting, cutting, cutting. But, under Linklater's worshipful gaze, it all feels like the biggest, boldest adventure, illuminated by the playful machismo of Jean-Paul Belmondo and the stylish beauty of Jean Seberg's gamine star quality. Linklater re-creates famous lines and scenes from the film, but shoots them from a reverse angle, from Godard and the camera's point of view, thus throwing new light on images we might have seen many times before, now appearing as fresh as they day they were printed. There are oodles of cinephilic in-jokes, too, including cameos from contemporary luminaries Roberto Rossellini (Laurent Mothe), Jean-Pierre Melville (Tom Novembre), Robert Bresson (Aurelien Lorgnier), who was making Pickpocket at the time, Jean Cocteau (Jean-Jacques Le Messier) and Juliette Gréco (Alix Benezech). There are quips and quotes, there are delicious movie-making moments capturing how Godard directed his actors and how they moved to his strict instructions. You don't have to be an expert in French cinema to love this, though it probably helps. I am, unashamedly, so I don't know or care, which is why I say I felt like they were making it just for me. Maybe that (Cannes-do?) spirit of self-starting and rule-breaking appealed to me because, as some of you might know, I'm about to make my first movie as a producer (A Waiter in Paris, based on the memoir by Edward Chisholm), due to be shot partly on the streets of Paris, on a film partly inspired by all this nouvelle vague coolness. The first night I arrived in Paris to live for a year, as a language assistant in 1991, I went to watch À bout de souffle, for the very first time. My life changed that night, or at least shifted into a different gear. I fell in love, with Paris and with movies. So now, watching Godard, his crew and his contemporaries take to the streets in their various contraptions – shopping carts and wheelchairs adapted to get their handheld shots and sense of movement – it rang out again, pushing me into another new gear with what felt like a challenge and a validation, that every now and then cinema can and must be reinvented, injected with fresh visions and personality, the prevailing order given a right run for its money until it is literally out of breath. And that I can do this, go from critic to film-maker. I'm not directing my movies and, somewhat worryingly, the only guy that looks a bit exasperated in Nouvelle Vague, is the producer character, George de Beauregard, forever fretting that no one's shooting, or that there's no script, to the point that he and Godard come to blows and a full-on grapple match on a cafe floor. Is that what I'm signing up for? Worth it for the creation of a classic, I'd say – plus Beauregard went on to produce Cléo de 5 à 7, Une femme est une femme, Le Mépris, Pierrot le fou… I'd take that, if it means I have to roll with the punches. Then there's all the music Linklater uses, not just some of the famous Martial Solal soundtrack to Breathless, but also other jazz and French sounds of the time, such as Sacha Distel, Dalida and I'm sure I heard Michel Legrand's work with Miles Davis from Legrand Jazz, which came out in 1958… then again, I always hear Miles Davis's trumpet when I see Paris on screen, whether it's there or not. And a word, too, for Deutch, the only American actor here (she previously starred in Linklater's campus film Everybody Wants Some from 2016), playing Jean Seberg and capturing all her American-accented French so perfectly, as well as her haircut and her walk, that jaunt up the Champs-Élysées shouting 'New York Herald Tribune,' all her style, dressed in Chanel and exuding the magical, diva quality that made producer Beauregard fork out half the budget on hiring her (see, producer's instincts are everything). I don't usually focus on one film from Cannes, but Nouvelle Vague, playing in Competition, struck me as something special, something new. I didn't catch them all, this year. For the last 25 years or so, I've seen all the Competition films, fearful that I might miss the Palme d'Or winner, but with producing duties taking over this year, I had to do meetings with financiers, listen to co-production and tax credit panels and sit down with sales agents, very important people at Cannes, no doubt. But as Nouvelle Vague shows, when the history of cinema is told, when they recount the legends of making movies to pass on the baton to a new generation, such as Linklater does here, on screen there are critics, costumiers, cinematographers, actors, writers, script editors, the assistant director. There's a producer and, briefly, the marketing guy. But there are no sales agents or financiers. One might wonder where all this ancestor worship fits in Linklater's own ever-growing and mutating oeuvre. Now 64, he's always been a flag bearer for indie film, since his loose-limbed breakthrough Slacker helped define the golden era of '90s American movie making, compounded by Dazed and Confused and the rather brilliant Before trilogy, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy across the years, with my favourite being the achingly romantic Before Sunset, taking place in Paris. But he's also had the big hit of School of Rock, as well experimental animation work, and the mighty yet subtle achievement of Boyhood, spanning decades. He ticks off the styles and the stats with a Godardian appetite, reflecting on the passing of time (his films can take place in a day, or over long periods), ambition (or lack of it) among young people, and the act of artistic creation. His films are often about just hanging out with a bunch of characters, so Nouvelle Vague is right up his boulevard I'd say, as if he's actually totally disappeared into À bout de souffle while showing it at one of his famous Austin Film Society nights, like the characters in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo. (Allen himself recently fulfilled a dream of making a film entirely in French, Coup de Chance, though it may prove his last). Nouvelle Vague is a 'hang out' movie, a chance to transport yourself to a Cahiers editorial meeting, or to the Cinematheque, to a new wave film set, and to the cafes and streets of 1959 Paris, to smoke and drink coffee, to be reminded of youthful arrogance, even if these tweedy French intellos do look a bit like university professors than punk-like rebels. Let's remember that film critics can become great film-makers, because we all love movies after all. Let's keep cinema sexy and daring, it says, let's aim high to match the best. Let's remember what Godard said: 'You don't make a film, the film makes you.' And let's ride that wave.
New Statesman
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Wes Anderson's sense of an ending
Photo by Focus Features Wes Anderson's films either entrance or fail. I am a devotee of earlier work, up to The Grand Budapest Hotel of 2014, but The French Dispatch (2021) was intolerably twee, without any of the emotional depth that his best films have, that intuition of pain under the capering, that connection with childhood. Asteroid City (2023) was even more mannered, lapsing into self-parody. The Phoenician Scheme, let's say straight away, is a treat. Unlike its predecessors, it has a story to tell, rather than being an anthology of incidents. It uses all of Anderson's stylisations but is not primarily about them, as his later films had started to seem. He takes his own cinematic language almost for granted here, rather than foregrounding it relentlessly. In a recent interview, he seemed almost to acknowledge that his 'visual handwriting' had become a burden, a distraction from content: 'You can tell it's me… But, for me, each one is a different story, a different set of characters, and it's a whole undertaking.' He even protested: 'I am me, I'm not like me… The only thing I want is for people to look at the movie for what it is, not for what it's like.' Recently, that had become difficult. Not here. It's 1950. Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Benicio del Toro) is one of the richest men in the world, a domineering international entrepreneur, frequently targeted for assassination by his rivals, plotted against by an international cabal. In the opening sequence, we see him survive, just, his sixth plane crash. Bloodied and battered, he emerges from a cornfield, just as reporters are gleefully delivering his obituary, trying to stuff a 'vestigial organ' back inside his body. 'It's not as easy as it looks,' he says. Del Toro, who previously played the deranged artist in The French Dispatch, is tremendous, magnetic and imperious, compelling your attention as much as Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums or Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Anderson wrote the film for him and didn't consider anyone else for the part. His character is modelled quite closely on the tycoon and art collector Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955), dubbed 'Mr Five Per Cent' for his custom of retaining that much interest in every deal he put together, including the Turkish Petroleum Company that controlled oil in Iraq and elsewhere. Korda has a massive plan, the Korda Land and Sea Phoenician Infrastructure Scheme, exploiting an entire region. He must get the support of multiple backers, including Prince Farouk, the 7th King of Lower Western Independent Phoenicia (Riz Ahmed), the Sacramento Consortium (Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston), Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), the Newark Syndicate (Jeffrey Wright), his cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and his sinister younger brother Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch, looking very much like Gulbenkian's real-life playboy son Nubar). Meanwhile, the markets, particularly in the bashable rivets he needs, are being manipulated against him. Plus, as he mildly complains, people keep trying to assassinate him. So he recruits his estranged 20-year-old daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), whom he hasn't seen for six years, having sent her to a nunnery as a child. He will make her his sole heir, he tells her, so that 'if they get me, you get them'. He shows her all his plans neatly arranged in a set of shoeboxes (it is a Wes Anderson film, after all). Liesl agrees, for a trial period, provided Korda abandons slave labour, famine creation and confining her nine adopted little brothers to a dormitory. Off they go to persuade the backers, accompanied by Korda's new private tutor, Bjorn,an entomologist from Oslo who may not be entirely what he seems (a brilliantly funny Michael Cera in his first role for Anderson). Threapleton, 24, the daughter of Kate Winslet, is a revelation. Liesl is touchingly resolute: she boldly stands up to her outsize father, earning his love, changing his sense of what matters most. The sense that this part must itself have been a big challenge for Threapleton at this stage in her career plays into the character beautifully. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The film's emotional core is this evolving father-daughter relationship, which Anderson acknowledges comes out of both his relationship with his wife's father, Fouad Malouf, a Lebanese businessman, to whom the film is dedicated, and the fact that he himself has a nine-year-old daughter. Those intimate origins can be sensed, for all the crazy capers: classic Wes Anderson, all over again. 'The Phoenician Scheme' is in cinemas now [See also: Gertrude Stein's quest for fame] Related
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Who's who in The Phoenician Scheme? Meet the cast of the new Wes Anderson film
Among the many hallmarks of the films of Wes Anderson, perhaps one defining feature is the director's ability to pull together ludicrously starry ensemble casts. A-listers jump at the chance of being a part of his films. And the big names who enter his orbit rarely leave, returning again and again. 'Who is in the new Wes Anderson film?' doesn't just mean 'Who are the leads?' It means: 'Can you please give me a breakdown of the doubtless incredible cast?' His hotly anticipated latest film The Phoenician Scheme is out in cinemas now and is also competing at the Cannes film festival. Read on to see who's who in it. As with most of the actors in The Phoenician Scheme, Del Toro has worked with Anderson before, but only relatively recently: he previously starred as a disturbed artist in 2021's anthological The French Dispatch. Now it's his turn to take the lead: in Anderson's 1950-set globetrotting adventure, he stars as Zsa-zsa Korda, a ruthless charismatic European business tycoon targeted by assassins, governments and the international business community after he comes up with a radical scheme to seal his legacy and secure his fortune. His scheme involves three infrastructure projects spread across Modern Greater Independent Phoenicia, a fictionalised country that is named after an ancient region. Previous Anderson films: The French Dispatch. Just 24 years old, Threapleton is a newcomer to the world of Anderson, but she's surely going to be invited back after this terrific debut. In the co-lead role she is a hoot as Korda's daughter Liesl, an unflappable and stoic nun who gets roped into his convoluted machinations. Previous Anderson films: newcomer. Another Anderson debutante, Cera has been in many films but will doubtless always be best known for his iconic turn as the hapless George Michael Bluth in the millennial comedy classic Arrested Development. In The Phoenician Scheme he plays Lund, the bumbling Norwegian tutor to Korda's nine sons. There may be more to him than meets the eye. Previous Anderson films: newcomer. Hanks is one of the most famous movie actors in history, has two Oscars to his name and is loved by pretty much everyone – so moviegoers will be more than pleased to see him appear in Anderson's latest offering following his turn as Stanley Zak in Asteroid City. This time, Hanks appears as Leland, a mistrustful business associate of Korda's. Previous Anderson films: Asteroid City. Having come into Anderson's orbit some years ago when he took a leading voice role in the stop motion Isle of Dogs, Breaking Bad star Cranston returns for a third collaboration with the auteur. He plays Reagan, the grouchy business partner to Hanks's similarly cantankerous Leland. Previous Anderson films: Isle of Dogs, Asteroid City. Characterful French actor Amalric has one of the longest associations with Anderson of anyone on this list, having first come on board as the hapless butler Serge X in the film-maker's magnum opus The Grand Budapest Hotel. Here he plays Marseilles Bob, another associate of Korda's who Del Toro's character must try to extract more money from after a group of international bureaucrats complicate his scheme. Previous Anderson films: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch. The comedian and actor has joined Anderson's circle recently, being one of several Brits who formed the core cast of the Roald Dahl anthology The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More. Here, he plays Sergio, a curiously ethical freedom fighter. Previous Anderson films: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More. The rapper-slash-actor is the third and final Anderson first-timer in the sprawling headline cast. He plays Prince Farouk, the heir to the country of Phoenicia who Korda ropes into a ludicrously high-pressure game of basketball. Despite Phoenicia being a made-up country – similar to The Grand Budapest Hotel's Zubrowka – one senses that it's loosely based upon mid-20th-century Egypt. Previous Anderson films: newcomer. Wright's first film appearance since his Academy Award-nominated turn in American Fiction is his third team-up with Anderson. He plays somewhat against type as the chatty, fast-talking Marty, yet another investor in Korda's convoluted scheme. Previous Anderson films: The French Dispatch and Asteroid City. Johansson's fascinatingly eclectic and busy career has taken in a lot of very different films, seesawing from giant blockbusters to cool indie projects. Her sheer range has won her accolades and fans across the spectrum. In The Phoenician Scheme she plays Cousin Hilda, Korda's second cousin and prospective wife. Previous Anderson films: Isle of Dogs and Asteroid City. Another Brit who hopped on board for Henry Sugar and is now returning for another Anderson movie is Cumberbatch, who has had a pretty drastic makeover to play the magnificently bearded Uncle Nubar. It would be spoiling the film somewhat to explain his exact role, but Nubar embodies the rancour that can ensue when business and family don't mix. Previous Anderson films: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More. Chameleonic Brit Rupert Friend has been in every Anderson film since The French Dispatch; he makes it four for four with The Phoenician Scheme. He plays Excaliber, code name for an Ivy League American in charge of a clandestine international bureaucrat mission to monitor (and disrupt) Korda's enterprise. Previous Anderson films: The French Dispatch, Asteroid City, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More. Veteran US actor Davis has an impressively long CV, but turned up in an Anderson film for the first time in 2023 for Asteroid City. Now she's back for more, in a small role as the representative of the holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic church, and religious tutor to Liesl. Previous Anderson films: Asteroid City. To find out more about Wes Anderson's new film The Phoenician Scheme, visit In cinemas from 23 May
