The Phoenician Scheme (2025) review

Internationally reviled businessman and frequent assassination target "Zsa-Zsa" Korda (Benicio del Toro) survives yet another plane crash, reconnects with his estranged daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) as she's preparing to become a nun, names her his heir (despite having nine sons) and then the two of them - along with Bjørn (Michael Cera), a "tutor" Korda likes having around - try to raise funding for his latest (and extremely expensive) infrastructure project in Phoenicia.  Anderson recently became the father to a little lady which inspired the story and Threapleton shows she inherited her acting talent from mum Kate Winslet, except massive chunks seem lifted and recycled from the director's previous films and the narrative isn't engaging and simply goes from one symmetrical and colorfully arranged setup to the next (as if he were checking off boxes instead of bothering to generate actual drama).  The "spiritual aspect" of this, which was allegedly influenced by Luis Buñuel, doesn't come across all that well, since Wes, unlike the great surrealist, presents himself more as a materialist than someone genuinely conflicted about his own faith - as noted in the closing credits, Liesl's Rosary was provided by Cartier.