The Brothers Bloom (2008)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Rian Johnson

Writer (WGA):

Rian Johnson (written by)

Release Date:

22 May 2009 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

They'd never let the truth come between them

Plot:

The Brothers Bloom are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they've decided to take on one last job - showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around the world.

Plot Keywords:

Con | Eccentric | Binoculars | Slow Motion | Chase

Awards:

1 nomination

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Rachel Weisz	...	Penelope Stamp
Adrien Brody	...	Bloom
Mark Ruffalo	...	Stephen
Rinko Kikuchi	...	Bang Bang
Robbie Coltrane	...	The Curator
Maximilian Schell	...	Diamond Dog
Ricky Jay	...	Narrator
Zachary Gordon	...	Young Bloom
Max Records	...	Young Stephen
Andy Nyman	...	Charleston
Noah Segan	...	The Duke
Nora Zehetner	...	Rose
Ram Bergman	...	Himself
Craig Johnson	...	Apple Cart Vendor
Dubravko Jovanovic	...	Albino

Also Known As:

Penelope (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language.

Runtime:

USA:113 min | Canada:109 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44635) | Canada:14A (Toronto International Film Festival) | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Sweden:11 | Hong Kong:IIA | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bar, Montenegro

Company:

Endgame Entertainment

Trivia:

Cameo: [Joseph Gordon-Levitt]Can be seen for a short moment during the scene in the beginning of the movie in a bar.

Quotes:

The Curator: The Curator: Madam, your smile is the sun and fallen men like me, we need the sun.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Building 'Brick' (2006) (V)

The Archer Fish of Cinema

The Brothers Bloom unwinds the story of two confidence men, an Asian sidekick and their rich but isolated mark. The Brothers Bloom is a charming off kilter dramedy about love.

Bloom (Adrien Brody) and his brother Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) work as confidence men with their explosive sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). Tired of the life, Bloom tells his brother he's done. His brother talks him into one final con against Penelope Stamp (Rachael Weisz.) Penelope is a rich, eccentric shut-in who has yet to live. They take advantage of her loneliness in a scam meant to satisfy her need for adventure.

Rian Johnson sees the world in The Brothers Bloom the way an archer fish sees bugs. The archer fish hunts bugs above the water's surface by shooting water at the bug from below the water line. When looking up from underneath everything looks like it is one place but actually is in a slightly different place because water refracts light, changing the view for the submerged. The archer fish has to see things slightly cockeyed in order to get the archery right. Rian Johnson took a slightly crooked approach to get the cinematic physics just right.

Penelope Stamp is the Robin Hood of cinematic archer fish. Everything about her life, her development, and her emotions are delightfully off balance. She isn't brilliant but she had dedicated herself to learning how to do many strange and obscure things. It wasn't good enough for Rian Johnson to make Penelope interested in pinhole cameras (a camera made by putting a piece of photo paper in a light-tight container and poking a pin hole in it to expose the paper), it had to be a pin hole camera made of a watermelon. Johnson made sure Penelope is beautiful, but by casting Weisz, made her an interesting beauty.

It isn't just the nature of the characters, but also how they talk. Johnson commits so fully to this strange-ified world, that dialogue that would warrant a call to the loony bin in real life, seems natural in the world created in The Brothers Bloom.

The downside to making the characters fit so naturally in their world is jokes or emotions that might resonate deeply in our world sometimes fall a little flat in The Brothers Bloom. There are no gut busting jokes but occasionally the audience finds themselves chuckling. Cheeks will not be soaked in tears, but occasionally a frog may find way into the throats of the viewers.

The Brothers Bloom is an endearing quirk-filled film sure to whisk the audience away on a flying crime filled love carpet.