The Phoenician Scheme (15)

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For all their abundant style, the films of Wes Anderson are always weighted with character depth. For his latest film, Anderson once again welcomes audiences into a world that no other filmmaker could create.

Benicio del Toro stars as a derring-do millionaire called Zsa-zsa Korda, who has survived six plane crashes and fathered nine sons and one daughter, a nun called Liesel played by Mia Threapleton.

They embark on a quest with tutor Bjorn Lund (Michael Cera) to secure the future of his business ventures, encountering characters such as Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch), Excaliber (Rupert Friend) and Richard Ayoade’s freedom fighter. The usual stacked cast of Anderson regulars include: Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston and Jeffrey Wright.

Anderson’s style hit its unique stride with The Royal Tenenbaums, and from there on has only been obsessively accentuated, controlled, these last 25 years. Those who found his previous two films (The French Dispatch, Asteroid City) to perhaps be a little too dour in their approach, will find this to be a welcoming jolt of fun; more in line with Grand Budapest Hotel’s zany antics