THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025) - 6/22/2025

Late period (?) Wes and an updated ranking

I feel as if we were to break done Wes Anderson’s eras, it would looks something like this:

Era 1: The Foundation

• Bottle Rocket

• Rushmore

• The Royal Tenenbaums

• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

• The Darjeeling Limited

Era 2: The Stride

• Fantastic Mr. Fox

• Moonrise Kingdom

• The Grand Budapest Hotel

• Isle of Dogs

Era 3: Late Period

• The French Dispatch

• Asteroid City

• The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar and Three More

• The Phoenician Scheme

I don’t personally know if these names for these eras are truly fitting, but they seem to emotionally and thematically all fit together.

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The first era is probably the one that people associate the most with Wes, containing his beginnings in film. They all seem to be about a man reckoning with the world and relationships around him, yet hides from the truth of the matter by painting them over with attractive colors and styles placed inside a dollhouse (which I talked about previously) - very much a landlord special. These stories, of course, end up being very dry and depressing, but all thematically have to do with growth and acceptance of a failing world around you.

The second era, one people were hesitant of, started off with a bang with Fantastic Mr. Fox - one of the most Wes Anderson-y films he made because he got to play with actual dolls to tell this classic Roald Dahl story. This era let him explore his childlike wonder he still possessed in the world - telling the story through the lens of children (or many lenses that eventually lead to a child), or their perceived tales. While the dryness was still omnipresent, life seemed to have been breathed into his works, making these films fuller while exploring many of the same themes he always had.

The third era is the one we currently are living in and one might call “late” period, but who’s to say that it is late? Of course Wes has been doing this for three decades at this point, but are we really certain his best days are behind him? How much longer will Wes continue? These last three features (and shorts) are perfectly tight and maintained films. What I love about this period, and why it sticks out to me, is that they all seem to be about Wes just wanting to tell a story. No truly deeper, emotional means, just fun story wrapped tightly in a little Wes Anderson box.

Yes, Asteroid City can be viewed as how Wes sees himself against the modern cinema landscape, or how The Phoenician Scheme is about the struggles and backlash Wes has faced to get any of his films made over the years, but they are just ideas he has that come to light. Whether it’s Dahl stories that speak to him, or wanting to explore made-up European lands, he’s just doing his thing without having to be the artiste. Which, truthfully, I am here for. Keep banging out bangers, I’ll keep going.

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An updated ranking of every Wes Anderson (feature) film:

1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox

3. Moonrise Kingdom

4. Rushmore

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

6. The Royal Tenenbaums

7. Asteroid City

8. The Darjeeling Limited

9. The French Dispatch

10. Isle of Dogs

11. The Phoenician Scheme

12. Bottle Rocket