Everybody loves a Con movie. Matchstick Men, Catch Me If You Can, The Score, The Italian Job: there are tons of films about a thief (usually he's just out of 'the business') who is so good he can escape the steel jaws of justice and manage to turn them on his opponent--usually a high-strung law-man or a former accomplice. As a genre, con movies (and I'm not talking about Con Air) are completely predictable. Except, of course, that you don't know how the con is going to be pulled and how the good guys (somehow we always side with these criminals) will get the money/the girl/away. Con movies are riddled with clues. Watching a con movie a second time may seem like a good idea, but it will never be as satisfying as the first time. It's knowing the trick before the magician finishes with the cards.
The Brothers Bloom is a different kind of con movie. It's really about stories: cons as stories rather than crimes. Sort of a revisionist approach to ripping people off, which I can get behind.
It was written and directed by Rian Johnson, who wrote/directed the award winning indie film Brick (also a Must See) and it follows with a similar realistically-unrealistic style. By that I mean that it could happen, but a lot of the movie is stylized and fantastic. It's hard to explain except to say that it begins with two boys, the Brothers Bloom, dressed to the nines in three-piece suits and hats, and bouncing from foster home to foster home. We see their first story (con) and get the line that drives the rest of the movie: in a good con everyone gets exactly what they want.
Stephen is played by Mark Ruffalo (good), Bloom is played by Adrien Brody (also good), and the 'mark' (a con term I learned from the movie) is the very wealthy Penelope, played by Rachel Weisz (great). There are a few explosions, some gun shots involving fake blood, a humorous sex scene, a chase or two (depending on how you define chase), Russian mobsters, a semi-priceless artifact, and a lot of humor. And, of course, the twist you should have seen coming, but didn't.
Beyond those common elements, the movie deftly incorporates a healthy amount of philosophy, as in this quote that has stuck with me since I watched it:
"There's no such thing as an unwritten life- just a badly written one."
Dude, solid review. For some reason I was kind of let down by this movie. Could be that I watched it on a plane. But with Ruffalo, Brody and Weisz I was way too jacked. I just love actors too much. My man love for actors has ruined like five movies in a row for me.
ReplyDeleteSee, I came to it from the opposite side. I knew nothing about the movie going in...actually it didn't play in Birmingham but I caught it at one of those pretentious art-house theaters you find in Austin, TX.
ReplyDeleteI guess a movie that's great only when expectations are nil is naturally suspect...or maybe you just don't like being tricked. Man, that scene where she does the card trick on the boat and that last scene with the Blooms...the relationship of honesty to good storytelling and what happens when one wins out over the other. And then, whether that's best...I don't know. Just seemed more layered than other con movies.
Great review indeed rob c. I'm definitely going to see this one now. I'll try and not expect 'darjeeling' out of Brody, though it will be hard. I do need see a good con movie to displace woody's most recent (I think) attempt at the genre ( is that word allowed on this blog jones?) with ewan mcgregor. Thanks again rob
ReplyDeleteIndeed, stephen, all genrenating is welcomed and accepted--like donia is by all the world.
ReplyDeletewhat 5 movies were ruined by your man-love?
ReplyDelete