The Brothers Bloom (2009, Johnson)

I have to admit to strongly disliking Rian Johnson's debut Brick. The noirish dialogue that he inserted into the mouths of his teenage characters was so affected and out of place that it grated at every turn and made the film extremely unwatchable for me. It was obvious that the director had a sharp intellect and a puzzle-creator's Goldbergian eye for detail, but nonetheless everything felt overly designed and very heavy-handed. It was a case of style over substance to the nth degree, and it didn't help that the film felt emotionally hollow and, in the end, nothing more than a self-congratulatory stylistic exercise. It's one thing to design the hell out of your story structure; it's another to direct your film in such a way that it calls attention to itself in a "Hey Mom, look, I'm directing!" kind-of-way. If anything, far more mileage can be gotten out of hiding any intricacies behind the magician's curtain in service of the act. But sensing Johnson's obvious talent, I was very hopeful for a big leap forward in maturity with his next film. The superb, offbeat cast and jaunty trailers for The Brothers Bloom only served to feed my expectations.

And so I'm happy to report that The Brothers Bloom delivered on all of my expectations. Yes, it's true that the narration provided by Ricky Jay has made some pull out comparisons to Magnolia, based on little more than the narration itself. There are somewhat more justifiable comparisons being made to the films of Wes Anderson-- a result of hand-drawn journal titles separating the film into acts much as the curtains did in Rushmore, the presence of Darjeeling actor Adrien Brody, and in general a tight and intimate production design and quirky, often very self-aware characters with a penchant for poetic, haunted romanticism. Nevertheless, this doesn't feel like an Anderson film to me. While Anderson and Johnson may share a love of the complex and layered, at the end of the day Anderson's films service his characters whereas Johnson's films service his plot and story structure. Yet, Johnson has matured with The Brothers Bloom to a point where his characters are emotionally full and resonant, and unlike Brick, the complex story structure here serves the characters instead of feeling like a pointless exercise in moving the pieces around a structural chessboard.

It certainly helps that he's cast Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as the two titular brothers. They are two of the best actors working today, and underutilized for various reasons. Brody looks physically awkward enough that mainstream Hollywood doesn't quite know what to do with him. His gangly body-type and hangdog looks don't quite mesh with his charm or onscreen charisma. He was a great fit in Hollywoodland a few years back, because there's something about him that seems more at place in old Hollywood. Ruffalo has more of the stereotypical leading man looks, yet he's a very emotionally sensitive actor with great vulnerability; he reminds one of Brando back in his heyday, and seems to have much more interest in character roles than generic paycheck parts. Both of these actors would have had so much more material to work with if they'd only been in their prime back in the 70s, when Hollywood wasn't run by a bunch of faceless corporate suits more concerned with 7-part franchises and adaptations of toy lines, as with films focused on exploring the human condition or the social themes of our times.

In addition, Rachel Weisz gives one of the most infectious performances of her career. She's an actress who can do just about anything, and here she adds the kind of fun, jaunty, vaudevillian performance again seen in those screwball comedies of yesteryear to her proven portfolio. Rinko Kikuchi, probably best know to Western audiences from Babel, has far less to do; yet her role and performance aren't quite so reductive to be one-note, and she makes the most of a role that has a little more depth and detail to it that one might assume.

Which in general can be said for The Brothers Bloom as a whole. I won't go into the plot, other than to say it's a con man/caper movie, which should be obvious from the trailer. But it's the kind of film where the journey and the reveals are what make it so enjoyable. So to include any kind of plot summary would simply be to distill the experience and ruin the movie. Rest assured that if you like the cast, quirky Anderson-like films, screwball comedies, intelligent scripts, and fun yet densely-plotted caper movies with plenty of twists and turns-- then this film should prove very satisfying, if not a home run. Everything about the film from the cinematography to the production design is a step forward from Johnson's previous effort. But most importantly, the depth and detail found across the production, particularly in the more organic and emotionally-realized characters, strikes a much more satisfying balance with Johnson's penchant for the kind of intricately designed story structure and makes for a wholly more satisfying viewing experience.

9/10