As a comic filmmaker, Wes Anderson often doesn’t seem to be in on his own jokes. His overly fussy sets and precise camera movements feel so intense that it’s the intenseness that evinces laughs rather than what’s actually going on in the story. In his latest concoction, Benicio del Toro plays Zsa-zsa Korda, a very rich international arms merchant who is constantly the target of assassination attempts, which he just barely escapes. Despite the character’s name and del Toro’s somewhat exotic makeup, not to mention the extreme globetrotting that takes place throughout the film, Korda seems American through and through. With each additional brush with death, he gets closer to religion, a position Anderson has fun with by inserting what he calls a “Biblical troupe,” including F. Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Bill Murray as God, judging Korda for his mortal and venal sins. It’s obvious these sketches are all in his head, but guilt is a powerful thing and the plot revolves around his scheme to achieve redemption, presumably for all the suffering he’s caused through his business dealings.

However, in order to do this he has to finalize those business dealings still in play and appoint an heir. Though he has nine sons who live in close proximity, he chooses his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who is about to take her vows as a nun. She goes along with his morally dodgy scheme because she somehow thinks she can change his evil ways during the process, which is so hurriedly explained as to be meaningless in terms of plot motivations. What it does is set in motion a series of encounters centered on transactions with other shady characters who Korda wants to finance his scheme, most of whom he has dealt with in the past. And while the individual set pieces are also funny, they feel so dramatically cut off from one another that their only real purpose seems to be to allow another A-list star to take part in the film, a methodology that has become synonymous with Anderson. These stars include Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch looking like someone you would never imagine him playing. 

Anderson’s films are always a cornucopia of colorful characters and odd sequences, but it’s difficult to sort out what exactly is going on in the movie because there’s just so much stuff, and the whole theme of regaining one’s soul gets lost in the highjinks. In order to make sense of it you have to keep your eye on Korda—or, more precisely, del Toro playing Korda—in order to determine just how seriously he takes all this soul-searching. My estimate is: not very much. One of Anderson’s strong points is creating characters with distinctive personalities that stay with you, and Korda, while clearly an intelligent man who knows the real price of his impact on the world, is obviously out to cheat fate and get into heaven without actually changing his evil ways. That Anderson can get us to not only understand this impulse but actually grow fond of the guy during the course of the movie is a rare accomplishment. 

Now playing in Tokyo at Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi (050-6868-5060), Toho Cinemas Chanter Hibiya (050-6868-5001), Toho Cinemas Shinjuku (050-6868-5063), Kino Cinema Shinjuku (03-5315-0978), Shibuya Parco White Cine Quinto (03-6712-7225), Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills (050-6868-5024).

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