| The Brothers Bloom | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rian Johnson |
| Written by | Rian Johnson |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Steve Yedlin |
| Edited by | Gabriel Wrye |
| Music by | Nathan Johnson |
Production company | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 114 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million[3] |
| Box office | $5.5 million[4] |
The Brothers Bloom is a 2008 Americancapercomedy-drama film written and directed byRian Johnson. The film starsRachel Weisz,Adrien Brody,Mark Ruffalo,Rinko Kikuchi,Maximilian Schell, andRobbie Coltrane. The film went into wide release in May 2009.[4]
The Brothers Bloom, orphaned at a young age, grow up in a series of foster homes. Thirteen-year-old Stephen dreams up an elaborate scenario to encourage his younger brother, Bloom, to talk to a girl, and the plan becomes their firstconfidence trick.
Twenty-five years later, the brothers are successful con men, and celebrate the end of a job inBerlin with their accomplice and explosives expert, Bang Bang. Bloom longs for an "unwritten life" beyond Stephen's schemes, and the brothers go their separate ways. Three months later, Stephen finds Bloom inMontenegro and convinces him to execute one final con: their target is Penelope Stamp, a wealthy heiress living alone in herNew Jersey mansion.
Bloom inserts himself into Penelope's isolated life by running into her sports car on a bicycle, and they bond over her eccentric array of hobbies, including various musical instruments, chainsawjuggling, andpinhole photography. Exploiting Penelope's loneliness and craving for adventure, Bloom masquerades as an antiques dealer leaving for Europe, and Penelope arrives at the harbor to sail with the brothers and Bang Bang toGreece.
As part of the con, Melville, a Belgianblack marketeer hired by Stephen, tells Penelope that the brothers aresmugglers and offers them an illicit job: in exchange for $1 million, he will procure a rare book inPrague for them to sell for $2.5 million. Penelope is thrilled and "convinces" the brothers to accept, and Bloom and Penelope struggle with their mutual attraction, but Stephen warns that the con will fail if Bloom actually falls for Penelope.
In Prague, Bloom is approached by the brothers' mentor-turned-enemy, Diamond Dog, but Stephen attacks Diamond Dog with a broken bottle, warning him to stay away. Melville disappears with Penelope's $1 million, according to plan, but she is determined to complete the job. The brothers arrange for her to steal the fake book fromPrague Castle, where a mixup with Bang Bang's explosives leads to Penelope being caught, but she talks her way out of police custody.
They go toMexico to complete the "sale", but Bloom has fallen in love with Penelope and reveals her adventure has been a sham. Preparing to flee together, they are confronted by Stephen; the brothers fight and a gun accidentally discharges, mortally wounding Stephen. Realizing the blood is fake and this was yet another ruse, Penelope leaves broken-hearted. Bloom punches Stephen and leaves for Montenegro once again.
Three months later, Penelope reunites with Bloom, who is unable to deny his love for her but unwilling to let her become a con artist herself. He meets with Stephen and Bang Bang, preparing to finish the con and fake their own deaths. They go to St. Petersburg, where Stephen has arranged to "sell" the book to Diamond Dog, who will pose as a Russian mobster, but they are ambushed by Diamond Dog's men. Stephen is kidnapped and Bang Bang's car explodes, leaving Penelope and Bloom uncertain whether she has faked her death.
A $1.75 million ransom demand leads Bloom to suspect this is another of Stephen's tricks, but Penelope wires the money. Arriving at an abandoned theater, Bloom finds Stephen badly beaten and held at gunpoint, and a phone call from Diamond Dog confirms that he has double-crossed the brothers. Bloom shoots first, forcing the gunman to flee, but Stephen takes a bullet for Bloom and collapses. Bloom asks whether this was real, and Stephen leaps to his feet, assuring his brother that he is fine, and tells him to go on the run with Penelope and that they will meet again.
Driving away with Penelope, Bloom discovers that the bloodstains on his shirt have oxidized, revealing that his brother's blood was real. Stephen dies peacefully, having pulled off "the perfect con", as Bloom and Penelope embark on a new life together.
The original script was titledPenelope after Weisz's character. Shooting began inUlcinj,Montenegro, on March 19, 2007.
| "Paper Moon is probably the closest to a direct influence. I loveThe Sting andHouse of Games, butPaper Moon was really the first thing I watched that took more of a fairy-tale approach and was more relationship based. Other than that, God, take your pick." —Rian Johnson, director/writer[9] |
Johnson first had the idea forThe Brothers Bloom a few years beforeBrick. Originally the film was going to be more serious and had a mentor relationship instead of brothers. He started writing the script after takingBrick to Sundance over the next six months.[10] The script was challenging for Johnson to write because he wanted to create a character-based con man film with an "emotional payoff", while including all the storytelling aspects of the genre. Johnson felt by sticking to a standard form of a con man film (two guys with one girl and one of them falls in love with the girl), he could deviate from the classical ending with a big twist.[5] When writing the script, Johnson watchedThe Man Who Would Be King, but his main influence came fromPaper Moon. While filming the movie, he watchedThe Conformist and8½ for visual style.[9]
Penelope's castle is thePeleș Castle inSinaia,Romania. Other locations includeBelgrade (Serbia), theConstanța Casino, thePort of Constanța (Romania) and various locations in Greece andMontenegro. The exterior scenes involving the theft of the book were shot inPrague, both in and aroundPrague Castle and on theCharles Bridge.[11] The ship board scenes were filmed on the steamship (yacht) SS Delphine.[citation needed]
During the two-week rehearsal period, Weisz had to learn to look like she could do all the skills that her character Penelope knew. This includedbanjo,violin,guitar,piano,juggling,break dancing,skateboarding, giraffeunicycle, andcard tricks, among others.[12] Brody helped Weisz learn to skateboard; she said, "Brody is a good skateboarder, so we were in the parking lot outside the place we were filming."[13] Brody also helped her to learn torap; when she first tried "he was so ashamed."[14] The card trick was the most difficult for Weisz and took her a month of practicing every day to learn.[15] The shot itself took 11 or so takes, but the one continuous shot in the film is not enhanced in any way.[16]
| The Brothers Bloom: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | May 19, 2009 (2009-05-19) |
| Length | 48:12 |
| Label | Cut Narrative Records |
The Brothers Bloom: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on May 19, 2009, by Cut Narrative Records. Director Rian Johnson's cousin, musicianNathan Johnson, composed the score for the film as he did on Johnson's directorial debut,Brick.
Three songs in the film are not available on the soundtrack: "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" byBob Dylan, "Miles from Nowhere" byCat Stevens, and "Sleeping" byThe Band, which was performed karaoke-style byRinko Kikuchi. Rian Johnson listened to The Band while writing the script, and their music was a major influence on the score.
In a digitally-released soundtrack companion booklet, Nathan Johnson said that since the film was about storytelling, it made sense to use lyric-based songs as an inspiration. He also credited Italian composerNino Rota as an influence.
The Brothers Bloom had its world premiere at theToronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2008.[17] The film was then screened as the opening night feature at the Boston Independent Film Festival on April 22, 2009. At the Newport Beach Film Fest Johnson won a festival honors award in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Directing.[18] The first seven minutes of the film were posted to the online streaming video site,Hulu, on April 23, 2009.[19]
The Brothers Bloom was originally to be released in the fall of 2009 but Summit pushed it forward to May.[5] The film opened in four theaters in the U.S. in its first week, earning $90,400. During the Memorial Day weekend from May 23–25, 2009, the first weekend after its initial limited release,The Brothers Bloom grossed $495,527, from 52 theaters, ranking it #15. During its wide release weekend starting May 29, 2009, in 148 theaters the film grossed $627,971, ranking it #11.
The film finished its theatrical run after 12 weeks reaching at most 209 theaters during its sixth week. The film has grossed $3,531,756 domestically and $1,997,708 abroad for a total of $5,529,464. This placed it at number 167 for all films released in 2009.[4] The film was released in the UK on 4 June 2010.[20]
As of December 2020[update], review aggregate websiteRotten Tomatoes reports a 68% approval rating, based on 156 reviews with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's consensus stated that "Despite strong performancesThe Brothers Bloom ultimately does not fulfill its lofty ambitions."[21] OnMetacritic, the film was assigned aweighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 26 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22]
Claudia Puig writing forUSA Today stated that the film "has it all" with an "offbeat perspective" and "magical realism style that works exquisitely". She gaveThe Brothers Bloom a 3.5 out of 4 and wrote that it "is an often rapturous trot around the globe" but noted that the film "loses some steam in the final half hour."[23] Robert Wilonsky thought that Johnson had "infusedThe Brothers Bloom with so much heart and beauty that one can and should easily overlook its discomfiting moments." Wilonsky suggested a second viewing of the film is "even more profound and touching".[24]
Roger Ebert commented how the film's "acting is a delight", but criticized it for being "too smug and pleased with itself". He continued by complaining that the film had "too many encores and curtain calls", ultimately giving it a score of two and a half stars out of four.[25] Robert Abele's review ofThe Brothers Bloom for theLos Angeles Times criticized Brody for over-moping and considered Ruffalo as "out of sorts" but thought Weisz's performance as "the best thing in the movie". Abele also thought Johnson used too many filmmaking quirks and when Johnson was not distracting the audience he had his actors doing it.[26]
TheDVD andBlu-ray became available to rent on September 29, 2009 and to own on January 12, 2010.[27]
