The signature quirks of Wes Anderson’s filmography have grown a little stale in recent years. Since The Grand Budapest Hotel, his films have increasingly seemed like simulations of themselves. His auteurish style of pastels, symmetry, and whimsy has been beaten to death with cheap imitation generative AI and social media pastiche, but it’s clear that only one person can be the master of his own style. The Phoenician Scheme makes a sharp correction. A film that reclaims Anderson’s visual language with a new sense of purpose and emotional resonance, it’s his best work in over a decade.

As anybody familiar with his filmography knows, Anderson’s films are always star-studded ensembles with even the biggest names fighting for a minute of screentime. The Phoenician Scheme places Benicio del Toro front and center as Zsa-zsa Korda, an eccentric and wealthy businessman intent on establishing his own nation...