Brothers Bloom is the second film written and directed by Rian Johnson. The first Johnson's film was Brick, a stylized homage to the hard-boiled film noir from the golden age of cinema, carried over to a modern day California high school. Watching the young actors "talking the talk and walking the walk" while playing noir archetypes as teenagers, loner private eye, femme fatale, a powerful drug lord who still lives with his mom, was amusing and unusual.
The Bloom Brothers pays tribute to virtuoso conmen in the tradition of The Sting and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It tells the story of brothers Bloom, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody), skillful and creative swindlers, one of whom generates the ideas of grand scams, and the other puts them into action.
Beautifully filmed in rather European manner, it brings to mind Federico Fellini's style with the soundtrack that was inspired by Nino Rota. Acting is good especially by Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kukuchi (Babylon) in the strange and unusual roles. Kukuchi's character, Bang Bang is particularly interesting. She only says three words in the entire movie, but her presence is so tangible and eloquent that she does not need to talk. Our eyes are fixed on her every time she is on screen.
With numerous references towards art-house and as far from Hollywood cinema as possible, The Brothers Bloom begins as imaginative and twisted. The problem with the film is that it overdid itself, played off a bunch of genres but on the way from one twist to another turn, it lost its steam and became overtwisted, pretentious, and out of breath. It's a pity because it had a lot of good things going for it. It sounds appealing and intriguing, and it has many loyal fans but not me. The movie did not con me because the perfect con is one where everyone involved gets just what they wanted.
The Bloom Brothers pays tribute to virtuoso conmen in the tradition of The Sting and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It tells the story of brothers Bloom, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody), skillful and creative swindlers, one of whom generates the ideas of grand scams, and the other puts them into action.
Beautifully filmed in rather European manner, it brings to mind Federico Fellini's style with the soundtrack that was inspired by Nino Rota. Acting is good especially by Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kukuchi (Babylon) in the strange and unusual roles. Kukuchi's character, Bang Bang is particularly interesting. She only says three words in the entire movie, but her presence is so tangible and eloquent that she does not need to talk. Our eyes are fixed on her every time she is on screen.
With numerous references towards art-house and as far from Hollywood cinema as possible, The Brothers Bloom begins as imaginative and twisted. The problem with the film is that it overdid itself, played off a bunch of genres but on the way from one twist to another turn, it lost its steam and became overtwisted, pretentious, and out of breath. It's a pity because it had a lot of good things going for it. It sounds appealing and intriguing, and it has many loyal fans but not me. The movie did not con me because the perfect con is one where everyone involved gets just what they wanted.