The Brothers Bloom (2008)

Along with much of the critical establishment I was very impressed by Rian Johnson's directorial debut, the high school noir Brick. It established him as a clear new voice, and as such I was eagerly anticipating his follow up, a heist film called The Brothers Bloom. Well for varying reasons the film was only recently released here in the UK so it has taken me a while to finally see it, thankfully the film was worth waiting for, and it shows a versatility and softer side to Johnson than Brick had previously hinted at.

As opposed to the dark and shadowy underworld depicted in Brick, The Brothers Bloom has the air of a fantastic story about it. It is bold with its use of colour and light, and the nondescript locations and costumes give it a feeling out timeliness that the best woven fables often do. The film concerns itself with the titular brothers,  played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody. Together they make their living as con men, Ruffalo's Stephen is the architect of the schemes, the storyteller with Brody's Bloom finding his place in the world by playing the characters Stephen dreams up for him. There are some very strong parallels in the story to the relationship between writer and actor, the cons that the men take part in are not just simple tricks, but adventures they create leaving their marks with a story to tell, and an emotional satisfaction which outweighs the material loss. Stephens belief that the perfect con leaves everyone with exactly what they wanted is an interesting one and it keeps the films twisting narrative in question throughout.

Rachel Weisz plays Penelope, the Brothers' final mark, a lonely and bored heiress whose millions have seen her trapped in her own mansion. Penelope is a departure from the more emotional characters Weisz tends to play and it's a delight to see her spread her quirky comedy wings. Penelope could have easily become a caricature of a sheltered naive and slightly eccentric woman, but she imbues her with a tremendous amount of heart and longing. The relationship between her and Bloom, whose years of playing characters have left him beaten down and isolated, is sweet and funny and underpins the backbone of the film. Rounding out the gang is Rinko Kikuchi's enigmatic Bang Bang, an (almost) silent accomplice whose speciality with explosives serve the Brothers well. She steals nearly every scene she is in and instantly becomes one of those hilarious and iconic characters.

As with Brick Johnson affects the film with a very specific tone that runs from the characters and plot right through to the dialogue rhythms and beats. It is a rare film that manages to be lighthearted and odd without being quirky and cloying. However the twisting narrative is possibly a bit to clever for it's own good, and I didn't feel that the ending was as effective as it could have been, it's not bad per se, just slightly disappointed when compared to what it felt the film was building towards. Similarly the films light tone and comedic edge make it less compelling and deep than Brick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there isn't much here except the surface level con man caper. 

That being said Johnson has proven a lot by crafting such a wildly different follow up film with such a confident and assured touch. There are few directors who can flit between styles so easily and it bodes well for the long and interesting career he has ahead of him, one I am eager to follow wherever it goes.