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Pop Culture Happy Hour

The Phoenician Scheme

Pop Culture Happy Hour

NPR

Books, Music, After Shows, Tv & Film, Film Reviews, News, Tv Reviews, Arts, Entertainment News, Music Commentary

4.510.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Wes Anderson's new film The Phoenician Scheme is classic Wes Anderson, complete with a great cast delivering heightened dialogue and stylized cinematography. It stars Benicio del Toro as one of Europe's richest men, an amoral industrialist, who, along with his daughter (Mia Threapleton) and a tutor (Michael Cera), travels to convince his business partners to fund his latest venture. But where does the film rank among Anderson's past movies?

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Ira Glass of This American Life.

0:02.2

Each week on our show, we choose the theme, tell different stories on that theme.

0:07.3

All right, I'm just going to stop right there.

0:08.8

You're listening to an NPR podcast.

0:10.2

Chances are you know our show.

0:11.9

So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately.

0:17.5

Some big, epic emotional stories and some weird funny stuff, too. Download us,

0:22.7

This American Life.

0:28.1

Wes Anderson's new film The Phoenician Scheme is, well, it's classic Wes Anderson,

0:32.6

really. For those of us who love his stuff, it gives us everything we're looking for in his

0:37.2

idiosyncratic

0:38.4

approach to filmmaking. It's got a great cast delivering heightened dialogue. It's got

0:42.9

stylized cinematography. Look, it's Wes Anderson. You know the drill. Not everyone loves what he does.

0:48.9

We should acknowledge that, of course. But if you do, where does the Phoenician scheme rank

0:53.8

among all the films he's made?

0:55.5

I'm Glenn Weldon, and joining me on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour to talk about all that is B. A. Parker,

1:01.1

she's one of the hosts of NPR's Code Switch podcast. Hey, Parker.

1:04.6

Hello.

1:05.7

Welcome back. Also with us is writer Chris K. Hey, Chris. Hey, Glenn. Myself, I feel very safe.

1:11.1

There we go. The Phoenician scheme is set in the 1950s and stars Benicio del Toro as

1:16.5

Zsa Jaja Corta, one of Europe's richest men and amoral industrialist.

1:21.4

Normal people want the basic human rights that accompany citizenship in any sovereign nation.

...

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