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Capone enjoys the sweet con of THE BROTHERS BLOOM!!!

Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here.

Movies about "the big con" are so tough to get right, nearly impossible in my estimation. For many years after seeing THE STING, I didn't think any filmmaker could ever make a decent film about con artists, let along a better one that that masterpiece. But then David Mamet's HOUSE OF GAMES came along, and I actually had to watch that one three times just to make certain my initial reactions were sound. Mamet combined a low-key, but still wildly interesting bit of trickery and combined it with dialogue that like it was written by aliens who had managed to capture human speech patterns to perfection without filtering that knowledge through a screenwriting/playwriting class. I treasure both of those films, as well as the other films in Mamet's con collection, including THE SPANISH PRISONER. But so few of these kinds of films work because you're always looking for the old switcheroo. Still, every so often, a stray film bursts through and surprises. Look at the phenomenal Argentina film NINE QUEENS; hell, you could even look to Tony Gilroy's DUPLICITY from a few weeks ago. Or you find works like THE GRIFTERS or MATCHSTICK MEN, which don't feature particularly great cons, but the characters are so interesting that it makes up for any shortcomings in the story. Then we have OCEAN'S ELEVEN, TWELVE, and THIRTEEN, which kind of exits in a glam world of their own.

What writer-director Rian Johnson has done with his second film THE BROTHERS BLOOM (after the astonishing high school noir BRICK) has created a world both the con and the characters are equally fascinating, so much so that you're not always sure where one ends and the other begins. Is Adrian Brody's Bloom really all that interesting a guy, or is that part of a character that he must play to pull off a major con concocted and sketched out by his brother Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) to rip off insanely rich heiress Penelope (Rachel Weisz, who has never been better)? Johnson doesn't just want to make a bait-and-switch heist film, or a great character study movie (he does both, by the way), but he also wants to comment on the practice of being someone you are not all the time. When I first saw the film, I thought it was his sly way of poking fun at actors who often say they lose themselves in a role. Well, what if that's true? What if Bloom gets so involved in the false lives he's portraying that he completely forgets what it's like to live an unscripted life? Or does such a life even exist?

As much fun and adventure as these three seem to have pulling off cons together all over the world (with the help of a mute Japanese explosives expert named Bang Bang (Oscar-nominee Rinko Kikuchi from BABEL). As if THE BROTHERS BLOOM weren't enough of a good thing, the film also is a melancholy love story between Bloom and Penelope. Weisz plays Penelope as a woman without much of an identity either. She is a collector of other people's hobbies. She discovers a new hobby, learns it, perfects it, grows bored with it, and moves on. She lives in the castle-like mansion that seems more like a prison for a woman who seems capable of passion but rarely lets it free. Her character manages to be funny and sad at the same time, and I spent most of the film not only wanted to stare at her constantly but also give her a big hug.

But much like BRICK, what impressed me most about THE BROTHERS BLOOM was the writing. Taking absolutely nothing away from Johnson's mood-inspiring visuals, but this script feels like it took years to write and more years to polish and perfect. While the dialogue is completely different than the Chandler-esque style of BRICK, Johnson has crafted a work that is at various times breezy, emotional, tricky, passionate, terrifying and funny--sometimes all in the same scene. Brody's performance as Bloom seems ripped from Russian literature, filtered through a Marx Brothers movie. As the film progresses, the con aimed at Penelope closes in, but we assume that Bloom's feelings for her will overtake the brothers' plan to steal her money. And thus the drama kicks in and keeps us guessing long past the point where we think we've figured it out. Key supporting performances from Robbie Coltrane and Maximilian Schell just make a great experience even better, without feeling like stunt casting. Schell is particularly stellar and reminds us that he can still be one menacing son of a bitch when he wants to be. In case you couldn't tell, I loved this movie because it does something that few films in any given year accomplish--it took me to a place and told a story that I have never been to or seen before on the big screen. It sounds so simple, yet so few filmmakers make it happen. The day Johnson shows the slightly signs of being derivative will indeed be a sad day for movie lovers. Until that day--and that day may never come--we'll just have to endure unique and stunning works of art like THE BROTHERS BLOOM.

-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com



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Brick= brilliant film
by SkinJob69
May 22nd, 2009
09:06:21 AM
I don't know...
by wampa 1
May 22nd, 2009
09:09:55 AM
Fourth
by Underoos Hero
May 22nd, 2009
09:15:43 AM
Did anyone else have their hopes up . . .
by Nice Marmot
May 22nd, 2009
09:33:05 AM
Darjeeling Ltd meets Ocean's (>=11)
by estacado1
May 22nd, 2009
09:56:21 AM
AICN = no cred? then why you here?
by RKDN
May 22nd, 2009
10:07:55 AM
RKDN
by FireFriendly
May 22nd, 2009
10:36:21 AM
cant_stop_yawning
by Nice Marmot
May 22nd, 2009
10:37:02 AM
You people have only seen the Derp De Derp trailers...
by natecore
May 22nd, 2009
11:03:20 AM
Capone, you forgot Frank Oz' "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"
by ricarleite2
May 22nd, 2009
11:09:29 AM
Please use an editor
by xsi kal
May 22nd, 2009
11:22:29 AM
Loved it
by durban1973
May 22nd, 2009
11:27:28 AM
My Spanish Prisoner story
by Tin Snoman
May 22nd, 2009
11:34:15 AM
@ cant stop ywaning
by orange cinema
May 22nd, 2009
11:50:20 AM
This looks like great fun! Remember Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?
by DoctorZoidberg
May 22nd, 2009
12:03:24 PM
Mamet's HEIST - that's the one
by palimpsest
May 22nd, 2009
01:53:28 PM
charley varrick,flim flam, and hot rock
by redrain
May 22nd, 2009
02:06:39 PM
I'll go see it
by dancetothebeatofthelivingdead
May 22nd, 2009
02:26:45 PM
This flick is gonna be great, but
by adrianmole
May 22nd, 2009
02:55:46 PM
The Comfy Chair
by gavdiggity
May 22nd, 2009
03:40:38 PM
do you remember when
by maitlanr
May 22nd, 2009
05:07:46 PM
Whilst it looks like great fun, bad ratings thus far on RT
by DoctorZoidberg
May 22nd, 2009
05:08:51 PM
No more movies, you'll just need Hustle
by quintana007
May 22nd, 2009
05:11:06 PM
Brothers Bloom, Drag Me To Hell, & Up
by SoylentMean
May 22nd, 2009
05:14:22 PM
"But it has a bad rating on Rotten Tomatoes..."
by SoylentMean
May 22nd, 2009
05:18:08 PM
This summer has very few films I must see in theaters
by SoylentMean
May 22nd, 2009
05:25:28 PM
cant_stop_yawning2
by AugustusGloop
May 22nd, 2009
05:43:26 PM
reilly and luna
by TheExterminator
May 22nd, 2009
06:15:45 PM
ok yeah it was remade as criminal
by TheExterminator
May 22nd, 2009
06:17:10 PM
AICN is still trying to fist fuck us with this?!
by DANNYGLOVERS_DICKBLOOD
May 22nd, 2009
06:56:50 PM
cant stop yawning
by applescruff
May 22nd, 2009
08:19:50 PM
Are people confusing
by Tin Snoman
May 22nd, 2009
08:52:11 PM
Titbag, cant stop yawning
by RabidDogma
May 23rd, 2009
01:59:55 AM
Besides, "Top Critics"...
by RabidDogma
May 23rd, 2009
02:05:12 AM
Brick was pretentious junk...
by Davidia
May 23rd, 2009
02:22:31 AM
Davidia
by RabidDogma
May 23rd, 2009
02:31:41 AM
Rabidogma (thought police), yes I have...
by Davidia
May 23rd, 2009
03:18:55 AM
This movie was good
by bottombrick
May 23rd, 2009
04:03:10 AM
This review is bullshit
by dancetothebeatofthelivingdead
May 23rd, 2009
06:37:18 AM
Proofread Muttonhead!
by Feral Colon
May 23rd, 2009
09:21:54 AM
NEED MORE COOL NEWS
by SkinJob69
May 23rd, 2009
09:25:02 AM
Davidia - thought police??
by RabidDogma
May 23rd, 2009
11:32:55 AM
Cannes
by RabidDogma
May 23rd, 2009
11:36:16 AM
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
by antonphd
May 23rd, 2009
12:18:24 PM
Ruffalo is the human equivalent to Ambien...
by elwood_p_dud
May 23rd, 2009
01:02:15 PM
'The Sting' has aged about as well as...
by Negator76
May 23rd, 2009
02:53:44 PM
Mamet gets a nod...
by Continentalop
May 23rd, 2009
04:48:06 PM
Actually I really did not like BRICK
by Continentalop
May 23rd, 2009
04:53:44 PM
all i care about is weisz
by simondark
May 24th, 2009
07:34:25 PM
just saw this tonight
by drave117
May 25th, 2009
01:51:25 AM
Rotten Tomatoes is Flawed
by Two
May 26th, 2009
12:25:04 AM
Shiat! Am I the ONLY one who thought this flick was not very go
by Guy Grand
May 26th, 2009
12:58:25 PM
Great character film, not so great at the con
by aversiontherapy2
May 26th, 2009
06:20:09 PM
loved it
by Jarek
May 30th, 2009
11:06:36 AM

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