Describing a movie as “quirky” more or less amounts to a
critical bitch-slap these days, right up there with calling something
“precious” or “twee.” But it wasn’t always so, and with The Brothers
Bloom, writer/director Rian Johnson (who previously helmed 2005’s
creepily original noir Brick) revisits an earlier cinematic
era—one in which eccentricity is interesting and quirkiness has
yet to become synonymous with Natalie Portman in a helmet.
Bloom (Adrien Brody) and his elder brother Stephen (the ever-dreamy
Mark Ruffalo) are high-stakes con men. Since childhood, when the two
orphans bounced from foster home to foster home, they’ve shared a world
largely of Stephen’s making, in which everyone they meet is a potential
mark. When Bloom decides he wants out, Stephen convinces him to pull
one last con, on a wacky, reclusive rich girl named Penelope Stamp
(Rachel Weisz).
In recent years, the role of the zany ingénue has largely
been reprised as indie wish-fulfillment scenarios in which grown women
act like cheerful toddlers, ones around whom even the wussiest hipsters
can feel manly. With Penelope’s character, Johnson is playing with a
trope, and he makes sure the audience knows he knows it: Penelope’s
quirkiness is hilariously illustrated in a sequence in which she
demonstrates her “hobbies,” from piano playing to chainsaw juggling.
It’s a gentle joke to introduce a surprisingly complex character, and
Bloom quickly falls for her, even as the two brothers orchestrate an
elaborate scam involving European globetrotting, rare book smuggling,
and mysterious one-eyed men. The underlying question—and one that
stays persistently engaging throughout this fantastic film—is to
what extent Bloom is being manipulated by his brother, and at any given
moment, the audience knows no better than Bloom where the truth
lies.
Bloom will inevitably draw comparisons to the films of Wes
Anderson, but Johnson’s got a cerebral, restless style all his own,
accented by sight gags, stunning costumes, a goofy sense of humor, and
an uncompromising storyline that stays surprising and compelling to the
very end.