“As far as con man stories go, I think I’ve heard them all.” So goes the first line of The Brothers Bloom, delivered via narration by magician/character actor Ricky Jay. This narration may be controversial, but with the very first words of his second film, filmmaker Rian Johnson cops to the daunting task he’s set out for himself: to try to breathe new life into a genre older than movies, marked (no pun intended) by tropes and beats as familiar to any savvy viewer as they are to the archetypal grifters with hearts of gold that populate them. There’s no question that it’s derivative — it’s a story about stories that have already been written — but you’d have to be more cynical than I not to be charmed by what it does right.
The Jay-narrated prologue introduces us to childhood versions brothers Stephen (to be played as an adult by Mark Ruffalo) and his younger brother, known only as Bloom (played later by Adrien Brody). That one brother got the first name and the other the last should give an indication of the indivisible nature of their relationship, which is apparent even at ages 13 and 10. They go from one town (and foster home) to the next, with Stephen coming up with new, elaborate schemes to make money off the “playground bourgeoisie”, and the pliable Bloom serving as his lure. 25 years later, the Brothers Bloom are still at the same racket, but on a much larger scale; now they trot the globe within a single scheme, and celebrate each score with all-night wrap parties instead of popsicles.
Stephen is a magnanimous showman who blocks, casts and stage designs each con like a backyard filmmaker whose backdoor opens on to dilapidated theaters in St. Petersburg and beach cabanas in Mexico. Of course, he has a catchphrase: “The perfect con is the one in which everyone involved gets just the thing they wanted.” At the end of a successful blow-out in Berlin, all Bloom wants is to quit, to hide out in Montenegro and look for “an unwritten life” in a succession of bottles. It’s understandable that Stephen would have trouble buying his brother’s stated desire — after all, movies like this exist to make the viewer wish their own life could play out as if in a movie, and The Brothers Bloom is nothing if not self-conscious of its cinematic construction. And so Stephen and his weapons consultant/consigliere Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) swiftly track Bloom down and talk him into One Last Con. They find their One Last Mark in Penelope (Rachel Weisz), an obscenely rich orphaned shut-in who, at age 33, is starving for romance and adventure. Bloom, always a mark for pretty girls but resistant to their charms unless romance is part of his brother’s plot, falls instantly and hard.
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Fantastic Fest is hosting four “Secret Screenings” of movies that haven’t been released yet, and the first one unspooled last night to a theater full of people who had no idea what they were about to see. Rian Johnson was in town with a print of his movie The Brothers Bloom, and one lucky audience got to see it several months early.
It’s hard to watch Bloom and not think about the world that Wes Anderson’s films inhabit. Places where people travel by steamship, are always immaculately dressed, and consist of extreme caricatures. Johnson’s first feature Brick had that quality, and The Brothers Bloom has it in spades. It’s a fantasy world that Johnson himself probably wouldn’t mind living in, and I’m sure he’d have a fair share of people willing to follow him. At least one theater full of people last night wouldn’t have minded.
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Rian Johnson is the director of the innovative modern-day film noir Brick, which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and The Brothers Bloom is his impressive followup. While Brick is certainly set in a world of its own, with everyone in a contemporary high school speaking in 30s and 40s detective-speak, The Brothers Bloom takes place in a fantasy world chock full of steamships, fancy cars, and mysterious settings. He gets impressive performances out of Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz reinvents herself nicely, and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi is terrific with an extremely tiny amount of dialogue. It’s well worth seeing when it comes out in January.
I sat down with Rian in Toronto and he told me about writing a part for Bob Dylan, his feelings about being compared to Wes Anderson, and his next project: a dark science fiction movie called Looper.
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It’s funny how out of control a rumor can spin on the web. The Angelina Jolie as Catwoman “news” has to be at the top of the list of most reported unconfirmed rumors ever. And it’s sad that it’s not actually true, because after seeing Jolie in the dominatrix outfit she wears at the beginning of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I’d be perfectly fine seeing her wear another tight black costume for a possible third Christopher Nolan-directed Batman movie.
But who instead could play the part, if Jolie is indeed not interested, or not even offered the role (or, obviously, if Catwoman is not in the movie, as screenwriter David Goyer has apparently hinted)? One theory says that Maggie Gyllenhaal will return in the follow-up to The Dark Knight, this time donning a catsuit (Graeme at io9 strongly disputes the idea). Another terrible suggestion is to cast the too-cute Zooey Deschanel as the villainess. A far more interesting recommendation, from Catherine Bray, is Tilda Swinton. But I think the character needs to be a little sexier. Plus, I want to dismiss Bray’s idea on the principle that it’s included in the DenOfGeek list, which consists mostly of the usual hot young actress ideas that probably get thrown around for every casting decision like this.
I’m actually shocked that Eva Green wasn’t anyone’s pick, as she’s one of those hot young actresses, and she’s done the “good and bad at the same time” thing in Casino Royale. She was even part of my list until a better candidate edged her out, mostly on the idea that we don’t need to see her replay Vesper Lynd in a Catwoman costume. So, who did make the cut? Check out my 10 favorites, in descending order, after the jump:
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