Review of The Brothers Bloom (2008) by Sean D — 06 Mar 2010

I am a huge ginormous fan of Rian Johnsonâ??s previous film, â??Brick,â?? in fact itâ??s one of my top five favorite films, so I had high hopes for his next film. Although very different, â??The Brothers Bloomâ?? is an enjoyable, intelligent movie that sadly falls somewhat short. In a fate that befalls many films that endeavor to be complex and full of twists, it starts to groan under the weight of all its own cleverness by the end. Cons on top of cons, and the charactersâ?? confusion about whatâ??s real and what isnâ??t is unfortunately shared by the audience. Itâ??s hard to say exactly what happened in the film and how the resolution was engineered, if in fact it was engineered at all.

The prologue, featuring the brothers as boys and narrated by Ricky Jay, introduced a different tone than weâ??ll see in the rest of the film, more of a â??Royal Tenenbaumsâ?? post-modern thing, but then the majority of the film shares more with David Mamet films like â??House of Games.â?? I love Adrien Brody and his sad-faced melancholy suited this role perfectly, although I thought Mark Ruffalo lacked the mastermind attitude that the character required. I did love Rachel Weisz as the wealthy recluse whose money drives the film, but was it really necessary to put Rinko Kikuchi into yet another role where she doesnâ??t speak? All this being said, I really enjoyed the film and will likely watch it again, if only to help me figure out just what the heck was going on.