The Red Circle

By Tom Nix // 10.24.09

The movie that winds down The Brothers Bloom is almost totally different from the movie that begins it. Kicking out of the gate with a borderline precocious series of vignettes detailing the Brothers’ (Stephen, the older and Bloom, the younger) relatively rough childhood. Narrated by Ricky Jay this, naturally, is the time when they learn all about the con, and how it can change the lives of everyone involved.

Ever since they were young kids, The Brothers Bloom have running cons that fit one specific rule: Everything ends well when everyone gets what they want. Unfortunately, the spoils have been eluding the brothers for the last 25 years. Stephen, the mastermind, wants to create a con so elaborate and perfect that it becomes reality. Bloom, the one who plays the marks, simply wants an unwritten life. The last 25 years have consisted of being whomever his brother needs him to be.

And so the standard tale unfolds: There is to be one last con. The one that will get them both what they want. Stephen gets his story, Bloom, his life. The mark is Penelope (Rachel Weisz),  a beautiful, eccentric, and most importantly, wealthy 33-year-old living alone in her deceased parents estate in New Jersey. She is such a perfect match for Adrien Brody’s Bloom that its quite possible that she is simply one of is brother’s creations. And thus unfolds one of the most complicated narratives assembled. Who is playing whom? Is anyone playing anyone? Where does the plan end and happenstance begin?

It’s a wonderful conceit. It’s oddly refreshing to say that I’ve just watched a movie about criminals that’s as whimsical and beautiful as this one is. Despite Rian Johnson’s previous effort Brick (part of The Long Good Friday 004) being securely in the noir genre, his take on con artists (long a noir staple) is almost effervescent in the way it is portrayed. You see, despite the fact that Stephen and Bloom are in fact, taking their mark’s money, they are also giving them an adventure and an experience that they would have never otherwise attempted, let alone realized.

It’s this flipside view to the criminal genre that makes The Brothers Bloom such a fascinating film. The way Rian Johnson stages his scenes doesn’t hurt either. For a film that skirts around the noir genre at all costs, he seems to have picked up the directorial savvy of David Mamet. His dialogue is there for support only. Sometimes it gets caught up in its own cuteness, but there are some real gems in this script. What actually drives the story is the edit. It’s a lost art form nowadays. The art of editing is the one thing that separates film from any other form of media and communication. The fact that Rian Johnson so furiously supports is use in visual storytelling alone is a reason for us to furiously support his directing career. While he is able to draw performances out of his cast (Although, really, when your cast has Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz in it, how hard can it be?) for the most part, the film starts to waver a little in the second and and nearly derails itself at the beginning of the third.

In a nutshell, the film feels like a Wes Anderson directed remake of House of Games – only without the rigid stylization or art-deco soundtrack. And in this case, instead of teaching someone about the long form con, The Brothers Bloom is about the cons we pull on ourselves every day and how to get out of that habit. It’s a movie that David Mamet would never, ever, make – shot and edited in the exact way that he would. Only with a little more explosions (courtesy Rinko Kikuchi’s Bang-Bang – a 180 from her dour and misunderstood turn in Babel), a little more wide open spaces, and a lot more cathartic fun. This film is a convoluted con caper that may be just a little too confusing at parts. There’s about 20 almost needless minutes sandwiched between the 2nd and 3rd acts, that could have made the film a little more breezy to get through.

This problem may be easily fixed by a second viewing. Despite its intentional complexity, the film feels like a more fleshed out version of the brainstorming plans the brother’s concoct. A series of idea bubbles connected by an endless number of lines. Everything doubtless has its purpose. Every shot, every edit, every line of dialogue no doubt has their role to play. It’s an almost impossible test of will to not get caught up in the caper that The Brothers Bloom tangles all around you.

8.6 out of 10

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