Indie Film Weekly [EP 24]: The Phoenician Scheme (2025) & Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Indie Film Weekly
Hey there, indie film voyagers! Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly, where we skip the multiplexes and dive headfirst into the strange, the bold, and the beautifully bizarre. I’m Glen Reynolds from Circus Road Films, and every week I bring you the freshest theatrical indies, on-demand gems, and a classic to keep your cinephile cred intact.
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New in Theaters
Let’s start with The Phoenician Scheme, a stylish new caper from none other than Wes Anderson. A wealthy tycoon named Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his daughter—a nun, naturally—as the sole heir to his empire. But when Korda launches a mysterious new business venture, the pair become targets of terrorists, assassins, and conniving rivals.
This is Anderson in full maximalist mode: pastel palettes, ticking clocks, dry narration, and characters who never blink. Think The Royal Tenenbaums crossed with a Cold War spy thriller. And yes, it includes a puppet show, a miniature oil rig, and probably someone narrating from a submarine.
Next up is Bring Her Back, directed by the Philippou brothers (yes, the duo behind Talk to Me). This time, they're back with another horror nail-biter. A brother and sister are placed with a mysterious foster mother, only to stumble upon a terrifying ritual at her secluded estate.
The Philippous know how to wring dread from domestic spaces, and Bring Her Back dials up the folklore and family trauma to eleven. Expect scares, tension, and a slow-burn descent into madness that asks: what if your new home came with an ancient curse and a guest list from hell?
And rounding out this week is Tornado, from John Maclean (Slow West). This genre-blending tale follows a fierce young woman who takes vengeance into her own hands after her father’s traveling puppet samurai show is attacked by outlaws. She sets out to steal their gold and rewrite her story.
It’s part Western, part revenge flick, and part fever dream. Think Tarantino meets Studio Ghibli by way of spaghetti Western. Puppet violence, by the way, has never felt this cathartic.
So this week’s theater run gives you nuns with inheritance issues, cursed foster homes, and puppet-based vengeance. That’s The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back, and Tornado.
Films to Rent or Download
This week on TVOD, we’ve got Memoir of a Snail, directed by Adam Elliot. It follows an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to dramatically change his appearance. But instead of newfound confidence, he finds himself trapped in a spiral of obsession and identity loss.
This dark fable is a claymation trip into vanity, regret, and surreal introspection. Adam Elliot, the mind behind Mary and Max, once again proves that animation can be just as emotionally devastating as live-action—if not more.
Equal parts funny and heartbreaking, Memoir of a Snail is now available on demand.
Indie Classic
Our classic this week is Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, celebrating its 50th anniversary. Released in 1975, this haunting mystery tells the story of a group of schoolgirls and a teacher who vanish during a Valentine’s Day picnic at an eerie rock formation in the Australian countryside.
With dreamlike cinematography, haunting pan flutes, and an atmosphere so thick you could slice it with a corset, Picnic at Hanging Rock is less about answers and more about vibes. It influenced everything from Sofia Coppola to David Lynch and basically invented the term "aesthetic dread."
Streaming now on HBO Max, it’s perfect for those who like their mysteries unsolved and their visuals softly glowing.
And that’s a wrap for this time on Indie Film Weekly. Whether you're chasing down gold with a puppet, investigating spiritual rot in suburbia, or losing time on an Australian rock, there’s something this week to make you feel gloriously off-kilter.
Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at theindieigniter.com, and if you dig the show, drop us a rating, tell your friends, or leave an anonymous note in a color-coded file folder under a fountain.
Until next week, keep it strange, keep it smart, and keep it indie!