The Brothers Bloom (2008)

Last Friday I was torn. It seemed like I was going to have to choose one last movie before leaving for Europe a week later (tomorrow). We had tickets to an 8:00 concert Friday, Jack was busy all day Saturday (including his surprise party, which surprised him), I was busy all day Sunday, and we would be rushing around tying up loose ends this week. 

I had to pick between Bloom and Night at the Museum to squeeze in before the concert. As you can see, I picked the latter, and, as you have read, I regretted that decision. I promised myself that if I got a lot of packing done last night I would reward myself with the Brothers today. I did and I did, knowing full well that I might feel cheated again. 

Hooray! I liked it! Eccentric and off kilter, this con men caper stars Adrien Brody (if you haven't seen Liberty Heights (1999) get it NOW, and I've enjoyed him in everything he has done, including Summer of Sam (1999), King Kong (2005), Hollywoodland (2006), Cadillac Records, and his Oscar-winning role as The Pianist (2002)) as Bloom, what his character calls "the vulnerable anti-hero" (or words to that effect). Maybe I missed something but I never quite got why one of the Brothers Bloom was named Bloom and one was named Stephen (Mark Ruffalo, who first came to most people's attention with You Can Count on Me (2000), but was also good as a bumbling con man in Safe Men (1998), wonderful as an unfaithful husband in We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), funny in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), good in Zodiac (2007) and Blindness). 

The two women in the cast were perfect for their roles--they should be because the director envisioned them as he was writing it. Rachel Weisz (luminescent in her husband Darren Aronofsky's love movie to her The Fountain (2006), lovely in her Oscar-winning performance in The Constant Gardener (2005), scary in the excellent The Shape of Things (2003)) adopted the body language of the awkward, sheltered heiress Penelope by turning her shoulders and knees inward and marching around in tights with flats. About the wardrobe: brilliant! Well, actually, it was mostly black, white, and tan with the occasional flash of red, but it was great. All four of them looked terrific. 

Rinko Kikuchi (Oscar nominated as the deaf Japanese schoolgirl in Babel (2006) and a number of roles in Japan, with some new stuff coming out soon) had the most outrageous outfits and she carried them off well in her nearly wordless performance as Bang Bang. Loved the hats, loved the dolls. Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in all the Harry Potters, Nuns on the Run (1990), and don't forget Mona Lisa (1986)) and Maximillian Schell (99 acting credits, but I'll always think of him as The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)) do character roles, the former with an Inspector Clouseau accent. 

Writer/director Rian Johnson's first movie, Brick (2005) won a Sundance Special Jury prize and a handful of other awards. It was not comedic like this but still very good. He's only 25! The imdb trivia page has some fascinating tidbits about the relationship of this movie to James Joyce's Ulysses. Because the last paragraph contains a spoiler, I won't print it here. Also, the locations were terrific. It was shot in Serbia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, and Romania (including Penelope's mansion that was supposed to be in New Jersey). Great fun. Now I must bid you arrivederci.