The Brothers Bloom.

The Brothers Bloom is the latest film by Rian Johnson, I have been waiting for it to be released in the UK for two long and painful years. Johnson's previous directorial work is limited to say the least with only one feature length to his name- Brick. However Brick is such an astoundingly impressive film that I knew I had to see The Brothers Bloom in the hope that it would offer an equally eccentric, original, offbeat, humorous and dark departure as its predecessor.

The plot centres around the con artist brothers called Stephen and Bloom played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody respectively. Bloom wants out of his suffocatingly false existence-constantly pretending to be someone he is not and unable to find someone to love. However his brother Stephen manages to rope him into one last con before he gives up his life of crime. The con entails extorting money off of rich, reclusive Penelope played by Rachel Weisz (who I want to marry almost as much as Gwyneth Paltrow, almost.) Complications in their plan ensure when Bloom and Penelope fairly predictably fall in love. Despite the fairly familiar sounding set up of the criminal's 'last job' and what on paper would appear to be a clichéd romantic arc this film provides a gloriously eccentric departure from generic norms. All of the main characters are deliciously quirky and provided a consistent string of light hearted humour which kept a wry smile plastered to my face at most points in the film. The characters felt like the construction of a restrained Wes Anderson i.e. their quirks were believable, engagable and entertaining as opposed to being so outrageous that they are fairly alienating and too obviously fictional constructions.

The opening sequence of Brothers Bloom is absolutely incredible. The voice over speaks in a limerick within which the two brothers (as young children) interject and continue the rhyming verses. It works so, so well as it sets up the playful tone of the film as well as eloquently describing the character's upbringing and provides emotional understanding between the audience and the protagonists. The whole film is very theatrical in nature and the use of voice over narration in this sequence again helps to set up this tone which is carried out wonderfully throughout the rest of the film. The relationship between the two brothers is genuinely compelling as you get a real sense of their love and dependence on one another as well as the problems in their relationship and their contrasting needs. Bloom is sick of playing parts in Stephens highly theatrical, Dostoevsky influenced cons and longs to be himself, Stephen wants to create more and more exaggerated schemes and sees himself as an artist of sorts.

 However I would say that at the heart of this film is the blossoming of the relationship between Penelope and Bloom. Rachel Weisz is fantastic as Penelope-a girl who was supposedly allergic to everything as a child so had to stay in doors constantly through her childhood and as a result is socially fairly incapable. Her awkwardness is entertaining and allows for large degrees of audience sympathy. Although the ending of the film is portrayed in a fairly clichéd and saccharine manner for the most part the chemistry between Weisz and Brody is charming to say the least.

What impressed me most about this film is how different it was to Brick-Johnson's last film whilst at its core containing the same appeal on most levels. Both are driven by a romantic arc (in Brick Brendan is tracking down the murderer of his girlfriend), both contain quirky and eccentric characters, both have complex narratives e.g. in Brother's Bloom we are constantly unaware what is a con and what isn't a con which keeps the audience permanently on their toes and both are strangely amusing. Brother's Bloom seems to replace the darkness of brick with a much more light hearted tone. Rian Johnson is clearly a name to look out for in the future with this two exceptionally original films to his name so early on in his cinematic career.

(Again, I tried to find the campest photo of the director possible. The wallpaper will have to fill the quota of femininity for this post. Clearly a physically very ordinary man.)

I would massively recommend that you go to see this while it is still out in cinemas. It has been sitting around for two years and it deserves all the recognition it can get. Johnson delivers another intriguing departure from generic norms without making the film alienating or overly self indulgent. Bravo.