I was a big fan of Rian Johnson’s last film, the marvellous high school noir named Brick. In fact, I seem to recall it making the top of my best of 2006 list that year. Then last September I saw his follow-up at the Toronto International Film Festival and saw myself dazzled enough to place Brothers Bloom atop my Best OF 2008 list. Truly, there is no sophomore slump here, that’s for sure. Johnson has concocted a film that’s a dizzying blend of comedy, romance, buddy picture, road trip movie and a little suspense thrown in. It’s like a Guy Ritchie film made by Wes Anderson.
The titular brothers are Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody), a pair of confidence men at the top of their game; Stephen makes the plan and Bloom draws in the mark. Except Bloom has grown disgruntled with the life and yearns for a little space away from his domineering brother. But Stephen doesn’t know when to quit and Bloom can’t seem to be able to say ‘no.’ Stephen’s newest mark is an epileptic, reclusive heiress named Penelope (Rachel Weisz). Stephen plans to swindle a couple of million out of her, but Bloom starts to be drawn into her eccentric world and falls in love. But going through with the con is beyond perilous for more than matters of the heart.
Like Brick, this is an instant charmer; exceptionally well-written and directed with some tremendous performances. Ruffalo is playing a role unlike any other he’s tackled before, being jovial and droll with just a hint of danger in his “Be Cool” voice and swagger. Brody’s good at the sad sack part, playing well off of his brotherly chemistry with Ruffalo. Brody is the straight man, in the film’s confidence triad, which includes the wonderful Rinko Kikuchi as Bang Bang, the boys silent, though over-zealous, demolitions expert. Weisz also plays it straight with deadpan aplomb, playing a woman so instantly odd you can’t help but love her for doodling “Penelope the Smuggler” on a scrap piece of paper before the Brothers staged heist of an antique book.
There’s also an element of the secret to Johnson’s narrative, an appropriately Coen-ish twist in the midst of all the zaniness. We follow the steps of the con carefully, but not everything is as we see it. There are plenty of fake out moments, and by the time you get to the end, you’re so convinced that everything you see is not to be believed that you buy into the final Shemp and have the rug pulled out from under you. While Brick was overly focused on the criminality, Brothers Bloom only gets pre-occupied with having a little fun and occasionally getting into some serious sibling rivalry. It makes this both the perfect follow-up and perfect departure from the former; even with a cameo by Brick’s femme fatale Nora Zehetner.
The look is different. Gone is the bluey haze of the noir world of Brick in exchange for a more sunny and colourful European pallet. Only the dreary shores of New Jersey seem coloured bland, but maybe Johnson’s commentating on urban (and urbane) America. Both film’s feature a kind of hyper-realistic world rooted in the characters and archetypes of 30s crime cinema. It’s perhaps only in a movie like this that someone can’t see these Brothers coming from three towns over, but the fun is going along for the moment that these guys can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. Although it’s set in the modern day (“Bang Bang has a cell phone?”), it could clearly, and easily, take place in the post-jazz age, with Ruffalo’s three piece suit and an exotic boat cruise then train ride through Europe.
Watching this film last fall at the Toronto Film Festival, I was pleasantly complaint-less. The Brothers Bloom is as close to perfection as you can get and better than we deserve. It proves, once again, that Rian Johnson is a talent to be reckoned with and is one of the most promising new voices in American cinema. It’s been a long, hard, almost a full year waiting for this film to reach a theatre near me. The Brothers Bloom is currently in limited release this Friday, and will play at the Bookshelf Cinema in Guelph on June 19th.
Reviewed By Adam A. Donaldson
