Everyone and their mom loved Rian Johnson’s debut feature “Brick.” The neo-noir starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt was such an exhilarating new voice in modern filmmaking so it was pretty damn hard not to notice it, but the screwbally-esque trailer for “The Brothers Bloom,” didn’t exactly grab us and the fact that Johnson went from very-indie budgeted “Brick,” to a cast of major Hollywood names (including Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody) had us more than a little worried (“Brick” fans should note: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Nora Zehetner both make cameos near the beginning of the film).
Rian Johnson’s sophomore effort is an impressive piece of writing and a cinematic marvel; its a tightly coiled madcap con-man love story, but its major fatal flaw is its over-calibrated hyper sense of self.
Hyper-stylized via color, kineticness, restless camera moves, music montages, the too cleverly-calculated film is detailed it becomes stiff, annoying and too much to take. Johnson can obviously craft a mean-moving picture with an meticulous eye for camera composition and narrative spark and ascent, but there’s something to be said for room to breath.
What’s happened with Johnson’s with his fanciful follow-up is exactly what happened to Wes Anderson’s films; they’re so precisely constructed like a diorama, that the life is sucked straight out of them. In fact, many of the movies carefully styled tricks seemed to be pulled out of the Wes-Anderson grab bag. Though with a score that sounded like whimsical tour down Jon Brion lane, perhaps the young director was grabbing from multiple sources (there’s two sort-montages to Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan that feel vaguely reminiscent of Anderson; though tip of the cap, the film utilizes a fantastic Edith Frost song to choice effect)
A near fairytale about two life-long con-men brothers, their adventure eventually grows soured when the younger sibling (Adrien Brody) starts to feel manipulated, grows a conscious and begins to tire of their deceits. Mark Ruffalo stars as the conniving lead, Rinko Kikuchi his silent partner and Rachel Weisz plays the seemingly hapless wealthy mark that’s actually slightly too idiot-savant-like clever for their ruses (a montage sequence that rattles off the numerous quirky hobbies she’s picked up and discarded is so ‘Royal Tenebaums’ and so uber-cutesy, you want to strangle someone or club a baby seal).
It’s a testament to the cast that ‘Bloom’ wasn’t a total wreck though – Brody, Weisz, Ruffalo and the mime-like Kikuchi did have charm in spades – but even they couldn’t dial down the sea-sickness of overwrought eccentricity. As the film reached its inevitable conclusion (that wasn’t half as clever as it thought it was, though it was slick), ‘Bloom’ became fun and more enjoyable as it progressed (or we became inured to the hijinks-y romp), but those with a distaste for capriciousness that flirts with being hyper-whimsy at every turn should be forewarned. [B-]
I look forward to a film that showcases Kikuchi actually delivering more than one or two lines.
Kidding, but I totally want to see this film even with the iffy reviews it has received thus far. Brick was amazing, and I shall support Johnson as he branches out a bit with his new footing in Hollywood.
Just read a review of the movie Brothers Bloom, Sounds like its pretty good.
Are you sure that’s my song? What song is it? Because I don’t know anything about it and neither does my label… I hope you’re right though!
I think i got my wires crossed. Maybe there was a song in “Gigantic”? Does that make sense? I heard one of your songs in some film at TIFF, that’s for sure. If I indeed fucked up, i apologize, i saw like 20-some films and was bleary-eyed the entire time. But I do enjoy your music a ton.
Oh man. Okay. Gigantic I DO know about. Ha ha!! I mean, they had written to us and we’d given the okay, but I hadn’t heard anything else, although I’m sure the label has been talking to them and stuff. They were asking to use the song “A Mirage”, which is like this long waltzey country thing. So I guess it made it into the film? That’s awesome! Too bad I don’t have aNOTHer song in a movie, but still… great news. YAAAAYYYY.
Really? I’m not sure I know that one. If you send to me i can try and confirm? Now, I’m starting to think maybe there WAS one of your songs in Brothers Bloom cause there was a few pop songs in there including a Dylan track that i didn’t have time to write down and now its memory has escaped me, but it was a fairly well known one from Nashville Skyline i believe.
Oh and i believe we did see Gigantic and Brothers Bloom back to back which may have contributed to the mix-up.
Dude I’m pretty sure you’re just thinking of Gigantic. Check out the sampler clip in the iTunes music store… “A Mirage”, and the album is called “It’s a Game”.
LOVED and throughly ENJOYED this movie…it offered a little something for everyone!!!
The music was FAB as well…it was a really good time!!
I've read a couple of reviews for this film that says it's over-constructed, but funnily enough I loved that about it while simultaneously being aware that it WAS overdone. I think there was a considerable amount of self- or genre-parody here. I liked the actors and the characters; Adrien Brody especially, who was superb as usual.
Mind you, all my favourite films tend to be ones that critics/reviewers don't like, so we're probably looking for different things. I mean come on guys, there's a fake Belgian, a Russian baddie with an eyepatch, and stuff gets blown up! There's got to be something good here!
In all seriousness though, the best thing about The Brothers Bloom is that it's a good story that is character driven, rather than the glorified cartoons that make up most of the film industry lately.