The Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2008):USA

Reviewed by David Brown.  Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, LA

Being a huge fan of Rian Johnson’s first feature film Brick I was looking forward to another great adventure into a world that I had never seen before and I wasn’t disappointed. The Brothers Bloom is a movie that is completely and utterly in its own league. This movie stamps out most others and leaves the rest in its dust. Rian Johnson once again creates a world of his own that is original yet completely believable. This style of filmmaking isn’t being shown by anyone else out there. It is a movie that should be considered a modern classic. This movie really brings out some great performances that are solidly laid on top of a foundation of a great story that everyone needs to hear.

This movie was being shown at the AFI Fest in Hollywood and lucky for us the director Rian Johnson and co-star Mark Ruffalo made an appearance on the red carpet and stayed for a Q&A after the end of the film. Having these two in the theater while we were watching really added a positive atmosphere to the viewing. Mark Ruffalo mentioned a quick story about how he was mistaken for Eric Bana to break the ice. Everyone was already laughing and ready to go. Rian Johnson said a few quick words and then we began the movie. Everyone drew in close and waited for the story to unfold.

The story follows two brothers, Bloom and Stephen. They are the world’s best con artists and work closely beside a mysterious sidekick named Bang Bang. After a celebration in the con artists underground meeting place Bloom tells Stephen, like he does after every con, that this was the last one. 3 months later Stephen finds Bloom and tells him he has another great con up his sleeve. The con involves a beautiful heiress named Penelope that has a talent for doing everything. She gets swindled into following them on their boat and goes along with them as they con her the entire way. But things get complicated because Penelope isn’t as dumb as she looks.

The acting in this film is top notch as we see characters that seem to fit their parts so well. We have Rachel Weisz recite an entire page long monologue while doing a card trick on the table. Apparently Rachel also learned how to play four instruments and did most of her own stunts. Mark Ruffalo really fits his role well of being the overconfident and protective older brother. Stephen really seems to care for Bloom more than we can all imagine. Adrien Brody has a harder role because he is the center of every con and plays a different part in every con. But he does stay consistent with Bloom and has the look of an injured man. We also see cameos from actors from Rian Johnson’s first film Brick which was a nice surprise. The music was very important to keeping you involved in the moment because there are moments of great joy, great fun, and great sadness. The overall feeling of this movie is a comedy and the cinematography shows that. The lighting and locations are very bright and beautiful. The editing doesn’t stand out in any particular way. It just has the classical and invisible feel.

This movie could very easily be compared to Rian Johnson’s first film Brick. First off we have a cameo by three of the main characters from brick. They have very small roles but seeing them there gave me déjà vu. The style of filming is the same as Brick even though they are two different genres. You can really tell that the same director made these two films but even more so you can tell that he has stepped up in creating some new an interesting shots. This movie feels very much like a screwball comedy and Rian Johnson actually said himself that he loves screwball comedies. He also used a lot of film knowledge in this movie as he paid homage in so many instances to other movies. It would be good to see Rian Johnson again using some of the same cast he has used before. It seems like he has a great connection with his actors.

Rian Johnson has potential to be a great director in Hollywood and deserves every bit of attention he will receive for this movie. It’s a shame that he doesn’t have more movies under his belt to watch but I’m sure he’s going to have lots of successful movies in the future. This movie is for all kinds of people to enjoy and it won’t disappoint anyone. This movie is worth more than one look.