Monday 7 June 2010

The Brothers Bloom

Before I start, I just need to get this off my chest:


So there's that.

In 2005, director Rian Johnson made his debut film, Brick, which was overcomplicated and slightly self-rectally-ascending but undeniably interesting. At least, interesting enough to get The Incredible Suit curious about his follow-up, The Brothers Bloom. What with Bloom screening at the 2008 London Film Festival, I didn't expect to have to wait long for a wider release. I was wrong:


Was it worth the wait? Of course not. The Brothers Bloom isn't dreadful, but it is quite rubbish. The cast fail to make likeable any of the characters from the GCSE-standard script, and after the stylish noir of Brick, the boring direction just makes you feel cheated. There's some snappy editing which jolts you awake every now and again but it's not enough to stop you drooling into your popcorn after half an hour or so.

The Brothers Bloom's biggest problem is that it's a comedy about con artists, which immediately brings to mind The Sting and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (both of which are referenced here), so it's only ever going to be compared to its overbearingly better predecessors. And when the bluffs, double-bluffs and double-reverse-counterbluffs you're expecting never arrive (apart from a nonsensical and unengaging final twist), you just feel, well, conned.

Furthermore, while foregrounding its own inadequacies by referring back to better films, you also can't help but think of the other stuff the cast have done which is so much better. E, and indeed, G:

Nora Zehetner, better in Brick


Rinko Kikuchi, better in this photo:

And Adrien Brody, who will never, ever do anything in the rest of his career as planet-shatteringly amazing as this:



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13 comments :

  1. That's a shame. I know it's flawed by i still quite liked it.
    http://www.slackercinema.com/2010/06/brothers-bloom-review.html

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  2. I know it's not the kind of movie that has wide appeal, but I really quite enjoyed this one. Was one of my favorite films of last year. Something about the incredibly strained relationship between the brothers. How that affects them, and the mystery surrounding their life appeals to me.

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  3. My brain hurts after watching that video. Too... much... awesome...

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  4. Exactement. I appreciate that people may like The Brothers Bloom, but at no point in it does Adrien Brody emerge from the sun wearing starshaped shades and playing a yellow starshaped guitar.

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  5. Weisz words. A con of a film. A promise of beauty that never bloomed. A con is being bluffed into thinking someone has an incredible suit when in fact they are naked.

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  6. And you think you rant....

    http://enemiesofreason.co.uk/2010/06/07/yourenotgoingtogetarant/

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  7. I thought Kikuchi was quite good in this, actually.

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  8. So did I but I needed an excuse to put that photo up. Integrity schmintegrity.

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  9. Adrien I've-got-a-girl's-first-name Brody was really, really good in The Jacket. Just sayin'.

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  10. You've ruined my life a bit with that Adrien Brody video. I've been watching it on a near continuous loop for 36 hours and i'm still not bored of it. I want it played at my funeral.

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  11. Consider it done. Let me know when you die.

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  12. BIt late commenting I know but suffice to say that I nodded off a couple of times during this movie. 'nuff said
    Marge x

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  13. oh that's can not be posible, the brothers bloom was one of the most interesting movies I've ever seen, I mean, there's something in the way that the history goes that makes me feel like is awesome :P (WTF???)

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