Helly's Video View- The Brothers Bloom

Sorry for this delayed post, I had some technical difficulties last week! Anywho, The Brothers Bloom is the second film from writer/director Rian Johnson, which is the follow up to his first critically acclaimed film Brick. I remember not being extremely taken with Brick but it was years ago that I saw it, so I am thinking of giving it another look now that I am older and wiser!

But on to The Brothers Bloom- I really love the opening sequence in this film, it's very stylistic with the dialogue in rhyming couplets and the two protagonists dressed like 40's mobsters, which really makes them standout against the other pastel clad children and emphasise the fact that these children are definitely odd. Max Records plays young Stephen and delivers some genuinely funny lines. His character seems bitter and disenchanted with the world (think Marc Maron) even at the tender age of 12. A great metaphor is presented at the beginning of the film (which is echoed later) about illusion and reality which is the film's major theme which is what I think makes this film so interesting and when some of you guys see it we might be able to talk about that more (I am just working out that it's very hard to talk about this film without giving too much away.)

The cast is faultless with Rachel Weisz in particular turning in an exceptional performance as the eccentric shut-in Penelope. Most actresses would probably really over play the oddities of the character and make her in to a caricature, But Weisz is very restrained and instead the character just comes across as a little odd and socially awkward, which makes her a more realistic character. I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say that this is Mark Ruffalo's best performance to date. He is pitch perfect as the uber confident, manipulatively clever Stephen, which is the juxtaposition to his brother Bloom (Adrien Brody) who is passive and melancholic.

I only wish that the film held on to some of the stylistic choices that were presented in the first scene (maybe occasionally referring back to the rhyming dialogue for example.) However the plot keeps you guessing throughout and I even audibly gasped a few times when watching it. An interesting little film that is definitely worth a look. I will definitely be staying tuned for what Rian Johnson does next.

-Helly