The Brother’s Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2008): USA

Reviewed by Marissa Vogt. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, Arclight Hollywood.

The film The Brother’s Bloom has the ability to make you both laugh and cry, possibly at the same time. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, his second feature film, the film seems to teeter on the fine line between drama and comedy. The unique plot has many comical moments, but focuses enough on the human interactions and emotion so that even slapstick comedy does not overshadow the motifs of the film. The fantastic cast, starring Rachel Weisz, Adrian Brody, and Mark Ruffalo, showcases both fantastic writing and beautiful costuming.

The story of the Brother’s Bloom begins in a one-horse town, where the Bloom brothers once again meet another set of foster parents. Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) the protective older brother hatches an elaborate scheme in which to gain additional income by tricking the town’s children. Using his younger brother Bloom (Adrian Brody) to befriend and trick the other children, he unwittingly creates the desire in Bloom to live an honest life. The film then cuts to the future, where the Brother’s Bloom are still coning people but with the help of a silent Asian woman “Bang Bang” (Rinko Kikuchi), whose specialty is explosives. At the end of the con Bloom decides he’s through with the business and attempts to escape into a “life that is real”.

Three months later Stephen finds Bloom and convinces him to do one final job, in which Bloom is to seduce the wealthy Penelope (Rachel Wiesz) who has never left home in her life. Unfortunately, Penelope’s endearing personality captures Bloom’s heart mid-con and evokes the feelings of regret from the first con from so many years before. From there the now not-so-perfect con proceeds with many action filled moments and an unplanned ending.

Two things stand out in the Brother’s Bloom- the witty narrative and the elaborate setting and costuming. Beautifully written by Rian Johnson, classic novels and Greek myths are given an opportunity to be discussed in everyday language through the narrative of the characters in the Brother’s Bloom. For those who appreciate humor and happen to be English geeks the line “Playground Bourgeoisie” coming from the mouth of a ten year old will have you in stitches. The young Bloom also describes his brother’s con writing as “… Write’s his plans the way dead Russians write novels”. There does seem to be something similar between the long winded first con and Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”. For Steven, who’s ultimate goal is to “tell a story so well that it becomes real” being compared to the literary dominators from Russian seems only fitting. Johnson weaves beautiful language into a slapstick comedy, action adventure, mystery, romance in a way few other writers could.

The film seems to ooze mystique, in part due to the elaborate settings and costuming. The mystery and suspense aspect seems to be shown through the characters clothing and locations. At one point they take a train across part of Europe, the wood lined sleeping cars and 1920’s style clothing invokes the same aura of mystery that one might find in tales of the Orient Express. If the same filmed had been shot on a Greyhound bus (or the European equivalent) something would have been missing. The glamour and mystique helps to separate the characters almost from reality itself, serving to immerse them fully in the story that they are acting in.

Overall, the fantastic costuming, sets, and storyline take the viewer from the theatre to the scene of the con itself. The Brother’s Bloom is a story that everyone can see part of themselves in, as the commanding older brother protecting his sibling or as a dreamer looking for a place in the world.