[Reviews] The Brothers Bloom

[claireducky]

 

The Brothers Bloom

4 Stars, Metascore from metacritic.com: 55 Generally favorable reviews out of 100.

 

'Bloom' a Beautiful Con --James Rocchi

 

Rian Johnson's debut, "Brick," had a slick, stylish hook, setting a classic film noir plot in the halls of high school. His follow-up, "The Brothers Bloom," can't be summed up quite so simply, with brother con artists Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody pulling the time-honored "one last job" to fleece Rachel Weisz's solitary, singular heiress. "The Brothers Bloom" is clever, to be sure -- you can decode everything from the opening scene to individual lines to the title of the film itself once you've seen how it unfolds, and it all comes together. And yet that cleverness doesn't detract from the emotional core of the story being told. Instead, it adds to it, with each turn and curve in the film made with a sure hand and a sharp eye with care, as if the movie itself were an intricate handmade gift.

 

The brothers, Stephen (Ruffalo) and Bloom (Brody) got kicked around foster care in their youth long enough to learn that the best way to not get played is to be the player, and that, in the words of Ricky Jay's opening narration, "Mischief moved them on in life, and moving kept them close; for Bloom had Stephen; Stephen, Bloom -- and both had more than most." After the boys grow to be Ruffalo and Brody (the planner and the performer, the artisan and the actor, respectively), we see the brothers in action. Bloom wants out, tired of scams and schemes: "I can't wake up to another person who thinks they know me."

 

And so Stephen crafts one last scam -- with Weisz's Penelope as the mark. Penelope is heir to a fortune, and after a hilariously engineered chance meeting, she joins the brothers as they head for Europe by steamship, and Bloom reluctantly romances her until he finds he's not doing it reluctantly at all. Weisz is a bit of a ditzy innocent, it seems, but she also has some tricks up her sleeve. Stephen also has a few surprises in store, above and beyond the carefully crafted con he and Bloom are running with the help of their stylish, silent left-hand woman Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi).

 

And put that boldly, that baldly and that bluntly, "The Brothers Bloom" sounds like a clever clockwork contraption with grinding, gleaming gears where its heart should be. But that's not the case at all. Stephen's elaborate con is the only way he knows how to express his love for his brother. The adventures of the Blooms, Bang Bang and Penelope are Johnson's way of looking at the task and the trick, the privilege and the pleasure, of storytelling itself. And "The Brothers Bloom" is fairly tipsy on pop culture (references swim in from every angle, Kipling to Welles, Melville to mob movies), but it never gets drunk enough to lose its cool. Like "Brick," Johnson's script is in love with language, but it's also fearless enough to talk about love in a real way. The movie opens with the swingy sound of a jazz band warming up, which is the perfect preface. Everyone here is good enough to take a solo but smart enough to play well with others.

 

And the cast plays extraordinarily well, with the advantage that their parts fit their public personas like a glove. Ruffalo's already got the shifty gaze of a natural grifter, while we've previously seen Brody's eyes droop with sadness and sincerity. They fit their parts, but they flex within them, too, each giving a real performance. And Weisz walks away with the film -- Penelope seems like the perfect mark, and then she simply seems perfect. And the supporting cast is also lively and superb, whether Kikuchi's silent-but-violent explosives expert or Robbie Coltrane's massive and malevolent schemer known as "The Belgian." And Johnson's lively script and sure-handed direction switches between physical comedy and emotional intimacy, between glib gags and real insights, with the sure-handed flourishes and finesse of a master magician and the heart of a true storyteller. "The Brothers Bloom" turns its cascade of confidence tricks into a real reminder that love -- in a real way, in the best way -- may be the biggest con of all.

 

James Rocchi's writings on film have appeared at Cinematical.com, Netflix.com, SFGate.com and in Mother Jones magazine. He lives in Los Angeles, where every ending is a twist ending.