The Brothers Bloom

Rachel's role, Penelope, in The Brothers Bloom is far from her Oscar-winning effort in The Constant Gardener, but she elevates her role putting herself on par with Tessa Quale. Weisz steals the show here in a fun, energetic, elaborate tale, The Brothers Bloom.

You'll be bouncing out of you seats watching this film. The script is absolutely hilarious, the director moves fast keeping the material alive, and the performances are classy and strong, but what guides The Brothers Bloom (besides Weisz, of course) is the explosive editing. It's hyperactive, but not obnoxious. It's cool , fun and hip.

Like I've stated before, Weisz steals the show. Her character Penelope is one of the most memorable and well-written characters in recent memory and Weisz is up to the challenge of taking on that role. She's the most interesting character so you immediately take a liking to her. She's so adorable as the bright, lovely character, but the great thing about her performance is underneath all that lies great sorrow.

The rest of the performances aren't too shabby either. Adrien Brody is very good and convincing but it over-towered, by the other more colorful characters. Mark Ruffalo is charming and a ridiculous ball of fun. Rinko Kikuchi has almost no lines, but still gets big laughs.

There are dazzling visuals including some gorgeous costumes and set designs. This is a very funny film. Top that with the amount of energy and entertainment throughout, you're in a for a fantastic thrill ride. Not to mention the glorious performances, especially form the magnificent Rachel Weisz. A delightful thrill ride and the best comedy of 2009; 9

What a wonderful surprise: Yesterday my sister calls me and tells me that there's a new film by the director of Brick, playing at the Mill Valley Film Festival. "I'm there!"

Even before we get in the theater, I know we're in for a different experience. A pair of toughs with metal detectors wave us down for hidden cameras and demand we turn our cell phones off. I'm surprised we didn't have to take our shoes off. Endgame Entertainment certainly doesn't want any leaks.

Once inside, the director, Rian Johnson, shows up just before the show starts, fresh off a flight from Abu Dhabi no less. He gives a short interview with Mark Fishkin (long time director of the festival), coming off as a very charming, self-effacing, funny and unpretentious fellow. I like him immediately. Hollywood has not corrupted him (yet).

Like Tarantino, Johnson has closely studied films and makes constant references and nods to The Classics, especially from the 40s and 50s. Unlike Tarantino, Johnson writes more original stories and has good taste and far gentler sensibilities. Obvious influences include: Wes Anderson, The Cohen Bros, Billy Wilder, John Huston.

The film itself? Instant classic. It's got all the elements you could want in a Hollywood-style movie: Charming characters, plot twists, tons of gags, an incredibly beautiful leading lady, sumptuous sets and locations, and an overall sense "gee-whiz-isn't-this-fun!"

And it's classy, too. It doesn't resort to needless, sensationalist sex and violence. The writer respects and honors the audience's intelligence, a all-too-rare occurrence these days.

You could tell that the actors had a blast with the sometimes subtle, sometimes slap-stick script, relishing their characters' quirks and foibles.

Overall, Brothers Bloom almost manages perfection. It's one fault lies in the resolution, the last 5 minutes where it's tone abruptly changes for darker. Without giving anything away, I feel that it was too heavy-handed, considering the generally light and wacky spirit that had predominated. The rest of the audience seemed to feel the same way, given the hushed mood as the credits rolled. If the producers have an alternate ending up their sleeves, I suggest they use it, even it has to be somewhat ambiguous.

Otherwise, I'm happy to contribute to the positive buzz. I really think Brothers Bloom could be a huge hit, even a timeless classic.

I really liked the visual style of this movie and how it doesn't take itself seriously in a good way. It's a bright con film about two brothers that are good at what they do since a very young age, but the younger brother wants out. So his older brother convinces him to join him for one last con, with his assistant Bang Bang which fits her quite accurately. This isn't a serious or one of those dark movies about a con, so in another words it will leave a smile on your face. Plus I sort of cared what happens to the characters since they are mostly likable and has charisma, and found the scenario especially the visual style of this movie to be intriguing. It has a bit of the bromance, but mostly it's a romantic comedy with smugglers and should not be taken seriously in a good way of course. This movie really does have heart and a sense of adventure. Now I enjoyed Rian Johnson's past film "Brick" and I enjoyed this one as well, not as cool as "Brick" is, but still enjoyable. Especially how the main con, needs some fake cons to go with it along with it's witty plot. It isn't a waste of time or money to see this film. By the end of the film, with it's great ending I have to give this a...

8.2/10

While the complete polar opposite of Brick, Johnson left the Dashiell Hammett prose and instead decided to delve into Wes Anderson territory. His The Brothers Bloom is a smart, witty adventure that takes some unexpected turns on its journey, never lets a detail fall into obscurity, and shows that if nothing else, he is a high caliber storyteller that should be around for a long time, not rehashing the same thing over and over again, but churning out refreshingly new and unique yarns to entertain and enlighten.

This tale is about a duo of con men—the best in the world—who reunite to do one last job. The younger, Bloom, has been playing the roles written by Stephen since they were children, always embodying the character so easily because it allowed him to be that which was not himself. After having fallen in love with too many marks, only to watch as they swindled and left them out to dry, Bloom is ready to quit and goes into self-imposed exile for three years until his partner finds him and rounds him up for one last big score. That score involves an eccentric shut-in, a woman who has never left her mansion and collects hobbies in order to entertain herself. A master with a deck of cards, juggler extraordinaire, harp player, and ping-pong champ, amongst other activities, there is little she does not know. This epileptic photographer is anxious to go off on an adventure and opening up to the Brothers Bloom is her perfect opportunity to do so, and their best chance at an easy million dollars.

What the men did not account for was her inexhaustible sense of enthusiasm and uncanny knack for the con game. Getting herself out of situations that the brothers can't even fathom and catching on to things so quickly, it's as though the mark becomes the professional, however, that is exactly Stephen's plan. She is a woman of intelligence, beauty, and unique without compare. Penelope is exactly the girl that Bloom has been looking for, but of course, she is discovered in one of Stephen's stories, accessible only until they must cut her loose. Yet, here comes the first "what if" of the film. What if our orchestrator has concocted this all for Bloom, a con on a grand scale in order to give him the life he always wanted? Bloom does say that Penelope feels just like one of Stephen's characters, but as he says in his defense, "the day I con you, is the day I die." We can only hope those words don't become prophetically true.

Johnson weaves an intricate shell game for his characters to roam through, crossing paths, discovering secrets, telling lies, and possibly conning each other. No one truly can tell what's real because not only are they unsure themselves, they know that every one of them has the potential to make-up an elaborate scheme to confuse and manipulate. Ruffalo is the true artist at this game, crudely drawing up a plan of attack in brainstorm bubble trees, thinly veiling his tales with inside jokes that a woman like Penelope (Weisz) is well-informed enough to see through, yet too naïve to put together. Straight from the start, a childhood narrated by Ricky Jay, these boys have gotten what they wanted and planned to perfection. Trained by the nefarious Diamond Dog, the men, (Brody portraying the other, Bloom), have eclipsed their master and took the world by storm. Along with their pyrotechnics guru Bang Bang, (Rinko Kikuchi) and a select cast of regular actors (Robbie Coltrane as the Belgian and a great string of cameos in a bar scene early on with Nora Zehetner, Noah Segan, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Joseph Gordon Levitt all showing some Brick love), the boys always get what they want. Ultimately attempting to create the perfect con—so well planned out and airtight that it happens all by itself—this con becomes reality and everyone gets exactly what they wanted.

The Brothers Bloom is told in a storybook fashion with bright colors and in-focus frames. Johnson jam-packs each composition with detail upon detail, never shying away from having an important plot point occur in the background, behind a conversation or action by our leads at the forefront. Most times they are jokes, lending some levity to the situation, one that becomes ever more dark as the charade goes along; unexpectedly dark, yet perfectly so. His use of humor infuses a heart into the proceedings and a true bond and relationship between Stephen and Bloom, two men that learn to hate each other at the end of a job, but always come to the others help when needed at the start. You must be diligent to the environment surrounding our actors, as it is just as much playing a role as they, helping a truly bold and intricate story be disguised as a simple one. Very slight on first appearance, it is the fact that it's so well told that makes it seem simpler than it really is. Without any bloated superfluities or weakly handled tangents, this tightly woven tapestry lives on its own at a breakneck speed, culminating with a spectacular final twist, an end that had been building up right from the start in that bourgeois playground during the boys' foster home placement. The Brothers Bloom look out for each other and never let the other down, no matter what damage it may cause to themselves. In the end, they do it all for their brother, anything they can to make the other's life a success.

I watched Rian Johnson's BRICK [2005] years ago and think it is a little bit overrated at that time, after watching this one, I feel quite satisfied with my judgement.

On the cover of the DVD it is written: A gorgeous, elaborate, beautifully shot, well-acted con movie of the highest order. I agree with most of it except the highest order part. In year 2008, what could we expect from a con man story? My only wishful thinking is that it would not be too banal. With Rian wrote his own script, maybe I am too harsh on it, however, I do love the first part of the film, then it arrived the worries, I was for fear that the bathos would come eventually.

Luckily the chemistry among four main characters are convincing, especially Rachel Weisz, she could literally light the screen and elevate the level of a film (another excellent example is AGORA [2009]) by her performance. Adrien and Rinko are stereotyped (sensitive man and mute girl respectively), especially the former, I do feel sympathy for Adrien's future career (PREDATORS [2010] is truly a great choice). As for Mark Ruffalo, I think he is a chameleon in Hollywood nowadays, and I wish he will take some evil roles, which will be very watchable with his innocent appearance.

I cannot say the script is corny but it's just OK, the problem lies in the imbalance of comedy and drama, which creates some uneasiness in the latter part. The trick is when one gets used with pitfalls, like Bloom in the film and the audience, one gets tired easily and just lost interest in the final "dramatic" ending, like death is always the only way to solve every problem. Another problem is that the intentional omission of several important clues (i.e. the plan with diamond dog, how Penelope manage to steal the book, etc.).

The cinematography is the highlight of the film, which saved it from anything but a potboiler, clearly it is not a masterpiece, but since it is a product of Hollywood leitmotivs, I would say it is enjoyable to watch it (at least for the first hour) and one word to Mr. Johnson, it is easy for a person to act smart, but it is not easy for a film.

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