But that is a review for another day. This review is about his sophomore project The Brothers Bloom. It is the story of globe trotting con artist brothers attempting their final con (of course). The Brother Bloom are played by Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. Their non English speaking third part is Bang Bang. An Asian explosive expert played by Rinko Kikuchi. Their final mark is Penelope played by Rachel Weisz.
This is a globe trotting movie for sure. They visit Montenegro, Prague, Mexico, Romania and a slew of other places. Johnson's camera work can best be described as playful in this movie. It is adventurous and bold and can at times be a little silly. There are moments where I have had to watch a few times to even catch what he was going for. I am glad that I did, but perhaps a slightly better film maker could have conveyed his message a little clearer. I'd like to note that the 3 con artists in the movie are all very well played. This is the movie where I first developed my minor man-crush on Mark Ruffalo. I will say that Weisz kind of wore a little thin on me. She was adequate, but I don't think she was the right choice for the role. Keano Reeves and play the dumbest guy in the room. She can't.
Do you know how hard it is to make a con artist film now a days? The views of movies are so climatically smart. Movies like The Sting, Paper Moon and House of Games have put the audience in the know. Everyone is ion on the con. Once you revile that it is a con movie the viewers immediately go on the defensive. No one wants to be con'ed. Every plot point from then on is questioned. "Is this for real or part of the con", "what is this characters motives" and "who benefits from this situation" all become question that the viewers ask themselves.
So how do you get around that? There is the double cross but that is a dangerous technique. If you don't provide the audience with the clues to put it together they will feel cheated at the end. This practice was used wonderfully in The Usual Suspects. I know the ending and I am still surprised when the final twist happens. There is the red herring but here again with such a knowledgeable contingency it is becoming harder and harder to pull this off. So what film makers do is they add con's on to con's on to con's. The problem here is you run the risk of confusing the audience leaving them again unsatisfied.
So how do you get around this? What Mr. Johnson did was make a con movie that wasn't about the con. I can't spoil anything here or I would defeat the purpose of the review which is to get you to take an interest in this movie. What Johnson does is he wraps you up in a cocoon of romance, intrigue, travel, beauty, exotic characters and danger. At times you forget that you are watching a con movie all together.
Then towards the end when the Persian rug is pulled out from under your feet you are left satisfied. Then when it is reveled that there is a second rug under the first rug and that gets yanked out from under you, knocking you on you ass, you feel enlightened. Light you have experienced something that you rarely do. You were outsmarted by a movie.
There is a line in the film that I think perfectly sums up the entire movie. While looking at some distorted photos taken from the marks pinhole camera Bloom says "It's the lie that tells the truth". My girlfriend had never even heard of this movie and she really enjoyed it. I give The Brothers Bloom a solid 4/5 stars. Check out the link below for the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBuPI4m4pO8
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