Director Rian Johnson’s Brick (2005) was one of the most original, refreshing debuts in a very, very long time. It was always going to be a big struggle to follow it up, but it has to be said The Brothers Bloom is a quirky, witty and engaging adventure, if not quite in the same league as Brick (even if the film has taken a full two years to reach the UK).
What Johnson did with his debut was take one of the most revered genres in film – the film noir – and update it, set it in a high school and inject it with a huge dose of adrenaline. It paid off handsomely, but left Johnson with a massive problem – how to keep his form going.
Bloom is a big left turn, a sort of globe-trotting adventure with an almost childish (in a good way) sense of fun. The brothers in question are Bloom and Stephen (Brody and Ruffalo), orphans from a young age whose relationship is set up in a brilliant pre-credit sequence where they are constantly shunted to and from new foster parents. The older brother, Stephen, is a survivor, and works constantly on trickery to con people out of their money, all to ensure he and his brother are cared for. Bloom on the other hand is more sensitive and shy, and carrying a sense of loss for the girl he never kissed.
Fast forward to the boys as adults, now fully paid up members of the con artists’ union, tricking their way around the world with a third member of the team, explosives expert Bang Bang (Kikuchi), who is virtually silent. Their next ‘mark’ or plan is to relieve eccentric millionaire Penelope (Weisz) of her millions. To do this Bloom will woo her, Stephen will reveal a plan to rob a priceless prayer book, and they will then double cross her.
Penelope though turns out to be quite different to how they imagined. She was brought up alone for years, believing that she was allergic to everything – in fact it was the needles that injected the toxins – and entertained herself by learning languages, juggling, dancing, table tennis and photography. She is also borderline autistic – one of the funniest scenes is Brody unveiling his smooth romantic patter to an utterly confused Penelope. “I’m not very good with people” she explains.
The gang board a steamer and set off, Pink Panther style, to steal the book, but will the double-cross work, or will Bloom, as his brother suspects, fall for the gawky but charming Penelope? Well, it doesn’t take a genius to work out the way it will play out, but Johnson throws in so many double crosses it does at least keep you on your toes.
It’s a strangely out of time film – apart from the odd mobile phone it could easily be set in the 30s, with all the characters wearing dated clothing, but it does cast a spell. Johnson is clearly good at focusing on awkward, strange loners, and Penelope here is a typical creation. It all depends hugely on the charm of the characters, and the three leads are on such engaging form they do manage to pull it off. Robbie Coltrane has a Sellers-esque cameo as an enigmatic Belgian, whose pronunciation of “catacombs” rivals Sellers’ famous “burm”.
It’s an old-fashioned adventure romp, with some gorgeous European settings – Prague, Serbia and Romania feature heavily – and it looks wonderful throughout. Unforgiving fans will find it baggy, overlong, too cutesy and self-consciously quirky, but if you’re in the right mood it’s diverting and sweet, if nowhere near as dark or menacing as Brick. It will do nicely as a holder, while Johnson plans his next move, which hopefully will be tighter and grittier.
The Brothers Bloom DVD comes with a few special features, including a fairly interesting look at how they filmed the movie in four countries in 60 days, which involved a lot of logistics to get the crew and equipment around. There’s also a passable 20 minute interview with director Rian Johnson, where he talks about the ideas behind the movie. The bulk of the features is made up of deleted scenes. There’s over 30 minutes of them, with Rian Johnson talking us through where they originally fitted in the movie and why they were removed. They really do show how much of a film comes together in post-production, as whole chunks of the movie ended up on the cutting room floor.
Overall Verdict: Quirky, plotty, talky European adventure with great central performances, a Pink Panther-style plot and a slightly too self-conscious air.
NOTE: The bulk of this review is taken from Mike Martin’s cinema review of the movie, with DVD specific info by Tim Isaac
Special Features:
‘In Bloom’ Making Of Featurette
Interview With Director Rian Johnson
Deleted Scenes With Optional Director’s Commentary
Trailer
Reviewers: Mike Martin and Tim Isaac
