Everyone and their mom loved Rian Johnson’s debut feature “Brick.” The neo-noir starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt was such an exhilarating new voice in modern filmmaking so it was pretty damn hard not to notice it, but the screwbally-esque trailer for “The Brothers Bloom,” didn’t exactly grab us and the fact that Johnson went from very-indie budgeted “Brick,” to a cast of major Hollywood names (including Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody) had us more than a little worried (“Brick” fans should note: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Nora Zehetner both make cameos near the beginning of the film).
Rian Johnson’s sophomore effort is an impressive piece of writing and a cinematic marvel; its a tightly coiled madcap con-man love story, but its major fatal flaw is its over-calibrated hyper sense of self.
Hyper-stylized via color, kineticness, restless camera moves, music montages, the too cleverly-calculated film is detailed it becomes stiff, annoying and too much to take. Johnson can obviously craft a mean-moving picture with an meticulous eye for camera composition and narrative spark and ascent, but there’s something to be said for room to breath.
What’s happened with Johnson’s with his fanciful follow-up is exactly what happened to Wes Anderson’s films; they’re so precisely constructed like a diorama, that the life is sucked straight out of them. In fact, many of the movies carefully styled tricks seemed to be pulled out of the Wes-Anderson grab bag. Though with a score that sounded like whimsical tour down Jon Brion lane, perhaps the young director was grabbing from multiple sources (there’s two sort-montages to Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan that feel vaguely reminiscent of Anderson; though tip of the cap, the film utilizes a fantastic Edith Frost song to choice effect)
A near fairytale about two life-long con-men brothers, their adventure eventually grows soured when the younger sibling (Adrien Brody) starts to feel manipulated, grows a conscious and begins to tire of their deceits. Mark Ruffalo stars as the conniving lead, Rinko Kikuchi his silent partner and Rachel Weisz plays the seemingly hapless wealthy mark that’s actually slightly too idiot-savant-like clever for their ruses (a montage sequence that rattles off the numerous quirky hobbies she’s picked up and discarded is so ‘Royal Tenebaums’ and so uber-cutesy, you want to strangle someone or club a baby seal).
It’s a testament to the cast that ‘Bloom’ wasn’t a total wreck though – Brody, Weisz, Ruffalo and the mime-like Kikuchi did have charm in spades – but even they couldn’t dial down the sea-sickness of overwrought eccentricity. As the film reached its inevitable conclusion (that wasn’t half as clever as it thought it was, though it was slick), ‘Bloom’ became fun and more enjoyable as it progressed (or we became inured to the hijinks-y romp), but those with a distaste for capriciousness that flirts with being hyper-whimsy at every turn should be forewarned. [B-]