The Brothers Bloom

As with Brick (a film I did not care for), writer/director Rian Johnson has made a second film that exists not in the real world but in an idealized universe of his making, a land where cinematic preciousness overrules laws of common sense. In the right hands this can be wondrous (directors from Federico Fellini to Quentin Tarantino do the same thing), but it can also be a chore, as I found Brick to be. The Brothers Bloom is better, but still pushes the envelope on the cutesy meter.

The titular siblings are orphaned boys who are brought up in foster care. The older one learns to craft elaborate cons, while the younger, who is more dreamy and yearns for love, finds that he comes into his own when he is called upon to act in his brother's schemes. They end up master con men, with Mark Ruffalo as the elder and Adrien Brody as the younger. Brody finally has enough of living his life according to his brother's scripts, and flees to a peaceful life in Montenegro. But Ruffalo, along with their sidekick Rinko Kikuchi, track him down and rope into conning a ridiculously rich and lonely woman (Rachel Weisz).

In con men movies, it's usually greed that's played upon, but Weisz is not greedy. Instead she longs for adventure, and that's what the Bloom brothers provide, manipulating her to join them on a steamer ship to Greece, then to Prague. She almost understands that she's being conned, but is grateful to have the excitement, but Brody, falling in love with her, becomes less enchanted with the whole set-up. Meanwhile a mysterious man with an eye-patch (Maximillian Schell), the boys' former mentor, tracks them down.

Johnson has a wonderful imagination and a droll sense of humor, and the film is full of shots of ingenuity and flair. He also uses Ricky Jay, scholar of confidence games, as a narrator early in the film. I found the film mostly enjoyable, but felt overall that it lacked a certain something to keep it bound to the earth--it was too often threatening to float right into the ether.

The performances are all first-rate, but this is the second time I've seen Kikuchi in a film where she hardly speaks (I believe she has only one line here). Weisz, a beautiful woman, is nonetheless convincing as a lonely person longing for something she can't quite put her finger on (she collects hobbies, ranging from playing the harp to juggling chainsaws). Ruffalo is terrific as the driven older brother, while Brody his usual brooding soulfulness.

Johnson is a filmmaker to watch. Though I didn't care for Brick, I do admit it's daring and original, and after seeing The Brothers Bloom I'm very interested in seeing what he does next.