Review: ‘The Brothers Bloom’

Rian Johnson has a gift at creating worlds. Certain directors craft and put together full universes for their characters to play around in, and, on the rare occasion, these worlds seem so lifelike and genuine despite their differences from ours. In ‘Brick,’ a whole language, still English but varying uses of slang and phrases, was created. Johnson doesn’t do as such with ‘The Brothers Bloom,’ but that does not make the world the characters in this film live in seem any less true.

It’s a much softer world. People still hurt. They still bleed. Yes, they could still die. But there’s a color and a more pliable attitude to this world and the characters in it that make the comedy in ‘The Brothers Bloom’ work tenfold. The colors are amazing. Cinematographer Steve Yedlin’s deep focus pulls everything captured in the frame through a vibrant glaze. It’s all beautiful to watch, and the great thing about ‘The Brothers Bloom’ is the story and characters are just as exciting.

Stephen and Bloom, played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, respectively, are the best con men in the world. Bloom is always looking for a way out. He seeks something more in life, but Stephen knows where he and his brother’s true talents lie. He continuously convinces his brother to help him pull off one, last con. The latest, “last” con involves the brothers swindling an eccentric yet beautiful heiress (Rachel Weisz) out of $2.5 million. Along with their silent partner, Bang-Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), the brothers set their plan in motion, but complications arise when Bloom realizes he is falling in love with the mark.

‘The Brothers Bloom’ is a film that never ceases to surprise. Strange, then, when you consider it is found within a genre that has been sapped of most of its originality in the years since ‘The Sting.’ That film, released in 1973, didn’t invent the “long con” as put to screen, but it certainly had a hand in making the con man one of the more popular of choices when screenwriters set out to create a protagonist. More recent con men movies such as ‘Confidence’ and ‘Matchstick Men’ have become predictable and obligatory in their attempts at fooling their audiences. These films are all about the con. ‘Matchstick Men’ is a film that is nearly pulled off by the performances of the actors involved, but other examples don’t seem too worried about anything but the central, grafter theme.

‘The Brothers Bloom’ is a film that you just know would work even without any twists and turns the con man angle of the story holds. The characters are exquisitely written. Johnson knows character. He knows dialogue. He knows exactly what has to happen to make everything in his film push forward and be recognized. With ‘Brick,’ he put the spin on the film noir genre, setting it in the confines of a suburban high school, yet having his characters still act and speak as if they were smack in the middle of any, classic film noir from the ‘50s. With ‘The Brothers Bloom,’ he takes the con man story and supplants it in a seemingly alternate universe altogether.

There’s no time and place set for the film, but it feels like an alternate present where the styles and designs of the art deco or streamline moderne movements in the ‘30s have stuck like glue. Brightly colored glue, at that. And, even with this nondescript time and place, the film is never disconnected from its audience. Johnson grabs you and holds yours attention firmly with his direction.

Each frame is filled with information, various elements of increasing importance to the story that each serves a greater purpose. Johnson’s eye for shot composition is as astonishing as his voice. Even the aspects of ‘The Brothers Bloom’ we never see are breathtaking. Simply hearing Ricky Jay’s voiceover narration near the beginning puts him near the top of my list were I to ever have someone read me a bedtime story again.

The casting and the acting that results from it are also incredible. Johnson’s dialogue and direction have found a way to pull Adrien Brody out of playing Adrien Brody and likewise for Mark Ruffalo. Both fill their respective roles with extreme confidence and assorting style. Stephen and Bloom are incredibly different, yet you never doubt their connection as brothers. Neither do you ever question Bloom’s desire to help his brother nor Stephen’s need to have Bloom assist him. It is some of the best brother-to-brother screenwriting found, and, even when the film grows emotional, you have an optimistic need to feel everything is going to turn out all right.

As for the rest of the cast, Weisz, Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane as the mysterious Belgian, and Maximilian Schell (long absent from American cinema) as the nefarious Diamond Dog, they are all remarkable. Weisz brings such vivacity to Penelope, you know full well why Bloom falls for her. Penelope is extremely eccentric. Simply explained, she collects hobbies. She is more than eccentric. She is bizarre, yet Weisz smiles the performance through the roof, and the Penelope she creates is vigorous and uplifting.

Not enough can be said for Kikuchi’s Bang-Bang. Without saying a word of dialogue (she does, eventually, but that is besides the point) she pulls together one of the best supporting performances of the year. Bang-Bang is mysterious and ferocious on the surface, but everything Johnson and Kikuchi puts into the character makes her so likeable, you can’t help but want to meet her.

As a con artist film goes, ‘The Brothers Bloom’ is a triumph, but, equally as much, it is an extraordinarily strange and astounding films about colorful characters in an equally colorful world. Once again, Rian Johnson transports his audience into the world he has created, and, once again, it is as fascinating as it is fun.

Overall: 5 stars out of 5