The Brothers Bloom
Encyclopedia
The Brothers Bloom is a 2008 American postmodern caper film written and directed by Rian Johnson
. The film stars Mark Ruffalo
, Adrien Brody
, Rachel Weisz
, Ricky Jay
, Rinko Kikuchi
, and Robbie Coltrane
. Originally released in only four theaters on May 15, 2009, the film moved into wide release two weeks later on May 29.
25 years later the brothers are celebrating the end of another con. At the party Bloom realizes that Stephen controls everything in their lives. Bloom decides to quit and move to Montenegro
. Three months later Stephen finds Bloom and convinces him to execute one final con masquerading as antique dealers with Bang Bang, a Japanese explosives expert. The con is on Penelope Stamp, a rich socially-isolated New Jersey
heiress daughter of a previous target. To meet, Bloom stages a car accident but during the accident she seizures and is taken to the hospital.
Penelope is discharged and reveals to Bloom that she was alone for most of her life. Bloom hints that he is leaving the country tomorrow. Next morning at the harbor Penelope arrives to accompany Bloom to Greece. Maximillen, a Belgian hired by Stephen, tells Penelope that the Brothers Bloom are in fact antique smugglers. Enchanted, Penelope decides to become a smuggler. Maximillen, as instructed by Stephen, offers Penelope a smuggling job of retrieving a book from a museum in Prague
. Penelope convinces the Brothers to travel to Prague, unaware it is staged. On the train
Penelope expresses affection for Bloom.
In Prague they meet with Maximillen to plan stealing the book. According to Stephen's plan, Maximillen cons Penelope out of a million dollars and escapes. Penelope decides to steal the book anyway. The plan is to place explosives in Prague Castle
to set off the fire alarm, evacuating the building. Instead Penelope accidentally blows up the entire tower, resulting in the military arriving; Penelope, unaware of the military, enters the museum. She retrieves the book and during escape through a ventilation shaft, it gives out dropping her into a room filled with soldiers. Penelope convinces the chief of police to let her go.
While in their hotel's bar, Bloom is visited by the former mentor of the Brothers, and current enemy, Diamond Dog. He warns Bloom that Stephen will not be around forever, Bloom should join him. Bloom turns down the offer as Stephen arrives; Stephen stabs Diamond Dog in the hand with a broken bottle, telling him to "stay away."
In Mexico
Bloom tells Penelope they are con men which was anticipated by Stephen. The brothers fight and a gun accidentally discharges, Stephen is shot. Penelope checks out the wound, realizes that it is fake blood, and leaves with a broken heart. Bloom punches Stephen and leaves for Montenegro. Three months later, Penelope visits Bloom to become a con artist. Not able to deny his love for her, he meets with Stephen to set up one final con.
The brothers set off to St. Petersburg where they must sell the book to Diamond Dog. They are ambushed by Diamond Dog's gang while headed to the exchange. Stephen is kidnapped and held for $1.75 million. Bloom suspects this is just another con by Stephen; Penelope, just in case, wires the money by her bank account to the mobsters. Before the exchange, Bang Bang decides to leave and makes her exit by car bomb; leaving Penelope and Bloom uncertain she faked her death.
Alone Bloom goes into the theater for the exchange. Bloom finds Stephen tied up and beaten. A hitman attacks them and Stephen gets shot and collapses on the floor. Bloom asks Stephen whether this was real, or just the "perfect con." Stephen gets up and assures Bloom that he is fine. Stephen tells Bloom to leave St. Petersburg forever with Penelope and that they will meet again.
Bloom wakes up in the car and discovers that Stephen's blood stain on his shirt has changed in color from red to brown, indicting that the blood was not fake but real. Realizing that Stephen has died, Bloom breaks down on the side of the road while Penelope tries to comfort him. As they are leaving, Bloom recalls what Stephen had said earlier, "The perfect con is one where everyone involved gets just the thing they wanted." For Penelope and Bloom, what they wanted was life with each other, while for Stephen it was to write a con so perfect it became real: thus, Stephen pulls the "perfect con", Diamond Dog really gets revenge, and Bloom and Penelope drive off.
, Montenegro
on March 19, 2007. The film had an estimated budget of $20 million.
Johnson first had the idea for The Brothers Bloom a few years before Brick. Originally the film was going to be more serious and had a mentor relationship instead of brothers. He started writing the script after taking Brick to Sundance over the next sixth months. 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 story telling 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. When writing the script Johnson watched The Man Who Would Be King
but his main influence came from Paper Moon
. While filming the movie he watched The Conformist
and 8½
for visual style.
in Sinaia
, Romania
. Other locations include Belgrade
(Serbia), the Constanța
Casino, the Port of Constanța (Romania) and various locations in Greece and Montenegro
. The exterior scenes involving the theft of the book were shot in Prague
, both in and around Prague Castle
and on the Charles Bridge
.
, violin
, guitar
, piano
, juggling
, break dancing, skateboarding
, and card tricks
. 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." Brody also helped her to learn to rap
; when she first tried "he was so ashamed." The card trick was the most difficult for Weisz and took her a month of practicing every day to learn. The shot itself took 11 or so takes, but the one continuous shot in the film is not enhanced in any way.
, 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" by Bob Dylan
, "Miles From Nowhere" by Cat Stevens
, and "Sleeping" by The Band
, which was performed karaoke-style by Rinko 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 composer Nino Rota
as an influence.
on September 9, 2008. 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. The first seven minutes of the film were posted to the online streaming video site, Hulu
, on April 23, 2009.
reports that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 124 reviews with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's consensus stated that "Despite strong performances The Brothers Bloom ultimately does not fulfill its lofty ambitions." On Metacritic
, the film was assigned a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 26 reviews from mainstream critics.
Claudia Puig writing for USA Today
stated that the film "has it all" with an "offbeat perspective" and "magical realism style that works exquisitely." She gave The 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." Robert Wilonsky thought that Johnson had "infused The 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".
Roger Ebert
commented how the film's "acting is a delight" but it was "too smug and pleased with itself". He continued by complaining that the film had "too many encores and curtain calls" Robert Abele's review of The Brothers Bloom for the Los 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.
Rian Johnson
Rian Craig Johnson is an American writer and director, who won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with his debut feature, Brick.-Background:...
. The film stars Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best...
, Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
, Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...
, Ricky Jay
Ricky Jay
Richard Jay Potash , better known by the stage name Ricky Jay, is an American stage magician, actor, and writer. He is a sleight-of-hand expert and is notable for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter.-Life and career:...
, Rinko Kikuchi
Rinko Kikuchi
, born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories...
, and Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane, OBE is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known both for his role as Dr...
. Originally released in only four theaters on May 15, 2009, the film moved into wide release two weeks later on May 29.
Plot
The Brothers Bloom start their adventures in confidence tricks as young children; Stephen dreams up elaborate scenarios and his younger brother, Bloom, creates trust with the marks. The brothers’ successful cons and the fiercely protective nature of Stephen has the children rejected from foster homes throughout their childhood.25 years later the brothers are celebrating the end of another con. At the party Bloom realizes that Stephen controls everything in their lives. Bloom decides to quit and move to Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. Three months later Stephen finds Bloom and convinces him to execute one final con masquerading as antique dealers with Bang Bang, a Japanese explosives expert. The con is on Penelope Stamp, a rich socially-isolated New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
heiress daughter of a previous target. To meet, Bloom stages a car accident but during the accident she seizures and is taken to the hospital.
Penelope is discharged and reveals to Bloom that she was alone for most of her life. Bloom hints that he is leaving the country tomorrow. Next morning at the harbor Penelope arrives to accompany Bloom to Greece. Maximillen, a Belgian hired by Stephen, tells Penelope that the Brothers Bloom are in fact antique smugglers. Enchanted, Penelope decides to become a smuggler. Maximillen, as instructed by Stephen, offers Penelope a smuggling job of retrieving a book from a museum in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Penelope convinces the Brothers to travel to Prague, unaware it is staged. On the train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
Penelope expresses affection for Bloom.
In Prague they meet with Maximillen to plan stealing the book. According to Stephen's plan, Maximillen cons Penelope out of a million dollars and escapes. Penelope decides to steal the book anyway. The plan is to place explosives in Prague Castle
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...
to set off the fire alarm, evacuating the building. Instead Penelope accidentally blows up the entire tower, resulting in the military arriving; Penelope, unaware of the military, enters the museum. She retrieves the book and during escape through a ventilation shaft, it gives out dropping her into a room filled with soldiers. Penelope convinces the chief of police to let her go.
While in their hotel's bar, Bloom is visited by the former mentor of the Brothers, and current enemy, Diamond Dog. He warns Bloom that Stephen will not be around forever, Bloom should join him. Bloom turns down the offer as Stephen arrives; Stephen stabs Diamond Dog in the hand with a broken bottle, telling him to "stay away."
In Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
Bloom tells Penelope they are con men which was anticipated by Stephen. The brothers fight and a gun accidentally discharges, Stephen is shot. Penelope checks out the wound, realizes that it is fake blood, and leaves with a broken heart. Bloom punches Stephen and leaves for Montenegro. Three months later, Penelope visits Bloom to become a con artist. Not able to deny his love for her, he meets with Stephen to set up one final con.
The brothers set off to St. Petersburg where they must sell the book to Diamond Dog. They are ambushed by Diamond Dog's gang while headed to the exchange. Stephen is kidnapped and held for $1.75 million. Bloom suspects this is just another con by Stephen; Penelope, just in case, wires the money by her bank account to the mobsters. Before the exchange, Bang Bang decides to leave and makes her exit by car bomb; leaving Penelope and Bloom uncertain she faked her death.
Alone Bloom goes into the theater for the exchange. Bloom finds Stephen tied up and beaten. A hitman attacks them and Stephen gets shot and collapses on the floor. Bloom asks Stephen whether this was real, or just the "perfect con." Stephen gets up and assures Bloom that he is fine. Stephen tells Bloom to leave St. Petersburg forever with Penelope and that they will meet again.
Bloom wakes up in the car and discovers that Stephen's blood stain on his shirt has changed in color from red to brown, indicting that the blood was not fake but real. Realizing that Stephen has died, Bloom breaks down on the side of the road while Penelope tries to comfort him. As they are leaving, Bloom recalls what Stephen had said earlier, "The perfect con is one where everyone involved gets just the thing they wanted." For Penelope and Bloom, what they wanted was life with each other, while for Stephen it was to write a con so perfect it became real: thus, Stephen pulls the "perfect con", Diamond Dog really gets revenge, and Bloom and Penelope drive off.
Cast
- Adrien BrodyAdrien BrodyAdrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
as Bloom: When Brody first got the script he was working on The Darjeeling LimitedThe Darjeeling LimitedThe Darjeeling Limited is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, and starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman. It was written by Anderson, Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola...
and "was impressed by its originality and subtlety." While working on the film Brody considered a "bromanceBromanceA bromance is a close but non-sexual relationship between two men, a form of homosocial intimacy.-Etymology:Bromance is a portmanteau of the words bro or brother and romance...
" to have formed between himself and Ruffalo which led to more genuine rapport between them. - Mark RuffaloMark RuffaloMark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best...
as Stephen: When Johnson first sat down with Ruffalo it was for the part of Bloom but his actual personality was so similar to Stephen, Johnson chose to switch. - Rachel WeiszRachel WeiszRachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...
as Penelope Stamp: Weisz was being offered mostly drama roles but was interested in doing a comedy. She was drawn to the script because it is well written but still unusual. After Weisz decided on it she told her agent, "this is the one, this is the one." While working on the film she developed a rapport with her costar Adrien Brody. - Rinko KikuchiRinko Kikuchi, born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories...
as Bang Bang: Johnson didn't write the part for Kikuchi but was nervous when casting her; he was not sure she would want another mute part after being mute in her last American film, Babel. - Robbie ColtraneRobbie ColtraneRobbie Coltrane, OBE is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known both for his role as Dr...
as Maximillen "The Curator" Melvile - Maximilian SchellMaximilian SchellMaximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
as Diamond Dog - Ricky JayRicky JayRichard Jay Potash , better known by the stage name Ricky Jay, is an American stage magician, actor, and writer. He is a sleight-of-hand expert and is notable for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter.-Life and career:...
as Narrator - Zachary GordonZachary GordonZachary Adam Gordon is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Greg Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films which are based on Jeff Kinney's #1 New York Times best seller Diary of a Wimpy Kid....
as Young Bloom - Max RecordsMax RecordsMaxwell Records is an American child actor. Records is most notable for the role of Max in the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. His earlier experiences in film include a minor role in Directions: The Plans Video Album, and an appearance in the music video for Cake's cover of "The Guitar Man"...
as Young Stephen - Andy NymanAndy NymanAndy Nyman is an English actor and magician.Nyman first came to note with his performance as a hard nosed director in Musical! and then as Keith Whitehead in the cult film of the Martin Amis novel, Dead Babies...
as Charleston - Nora Zehetner as Rose
- Noah SeganNoah Segan-Acting career:He has appeared in Brick, Adam & Steve, What We Do Is Secret , The Picture of Dorian Gray, Cabin Fever 2, All About Evil, an award-winning performance in Deadgirl, Chain Letter and others...
as The Duke - Joseph Gordon-LevittJoseph Gordon-LevittJoseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is an American actor whose career as both a child and adult has included television series and theatrical films....
as Bar Patron (uncredited cameo) - Lukas HaasLukas HaasLukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
as Bar Patron (uncredited cameo)
Production
The original script was titled Penelope after Weisz's character. Shooting began in UlcinjUlcinj
Ulcinj is a coastal resort town and municipality in Montenegro. The town of Ulcinj has a population of 10,828 of which the majority are Albanians...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
on March 19, 2007. The film had an estimated budget of $20 million.
Script and development
| "Paper Moon is probably the closest to a direct influence. I love The Sting and House of Games, but Paper 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 |
Johnson first had the idea for The Brothers Bloom a few years before Brick. Originally the film was going to be more serious and had a mentor relationship instead of brothers. He started writing the script after taking Brick to Sundance over the next sixth months. 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 story telling 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. When writing the script Johnson watched The Man Who Would Be King
The Man Who Would Be King (film)
The Man Who Would Be King is a 1975 film adapted from the Rudyard Kipling short story of the same title. It was adapted and directed by John Huston and starred Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Saeed Jaffrey, and Christopher Plummer as Kipling .The film follows two rogue ex-non-commissioned officers of...
but his main influence came from Paper Moon
Paper Moon (film)
Paper Moon is a 1973 American comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was adapted from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, and the film was shot in black-and-white. The film is set during the Great Depression in the U.S. states of Kansas and...
. While filming the movie he watched The Conformist
The Conformist (film)
The Conformist is a 1970 political drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The screenplay was written by Bertolucci based on the 1951 novel The Conformist by Alberto Moravia. The film features Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli, among others...
and 8½
8½
8½ is a 1963 Italian fantasy film directed by Federico Fellini. Co-scripted by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi, it stars Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director...
for visual style.
Filming locations
Penelope's castle is the Peles CastlePeles Castle
Peleș Castle is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914...
in Sinaia
Sinaia
Sinaia is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, around which it was built; the monastery in turn is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. Other locations include Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
(Serbia), the Constanța
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
Casino, the Port of Constanța (Romania) and various locations in Greece and Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. The exterior scenes involving the theft of the book were shot in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, both in and around Prague Castle
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...
and on the Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge
The Charles Bridge is a famous historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century...
.
Penelope's skills
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 included banjoBanjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, juggling
Juggling
Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
, break dancing, skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...
, and card tricks
Card manipulation
Card magic is the branch of conjuring that deals with creating magical effects using a deck of playing cards. Card magic is commonplace in magical performances, especially in close up magic or parlor magic and street magic. Some of the most recognized names in this field include John Scarne, Juan...
. 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." Brody also helped her to learn to rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
; when she first tried "he was so ashamed." The card trick was the most difficult for Weisz and took her a month of practicing every day to learn. The shot itself took 11 or so takes, but the one continuous shot in the film is not enhanced in any way.
Soundtrack
The Brothers Bloom: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on May 19, 2009 by Cut Narrative Records. Director Rian Johnson's cousin, musician Nathan JohnsonNathan Johnson (musician)
Nathan Tyler Johnson is a film composer, songwriter and music producer.He was born in Washington, DC in 1976 and grew up in Colorado. After living in England in the mid-2000s, Johnson relocated to the East coast of the U.S. where he launched a live touring project with his band, The Cinematic...
, composed the score for the film as he did on Johnson's directorial debut, Brick
Brick (film)
Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir film written and directed by Rian Johnson. It was Johnson's directorial debut and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival...
.
Three songs in the film are not available on the soundtrack:"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, "Miles From Nowhere" by Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, and "Sleeping" by The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, which was performed karaoke-style by Rinko Kikuchi
Rinko Kikuchi
, born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories...
. 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 composer Nino Rota
Nino Rota
Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
as an influence.
Release
The Brothers Bloom had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 9, 2008. 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. The first seven minutes of the film were posted to the online streaming video site, Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
, on April 23, 2009.
Critical reception
Review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 124 reviews with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's consensus stated that "Despite strong performances The Brothers Bloom ultimately does not fulfill its lofty ambitions." On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film was assigned a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 26 reviews from mainstream critics.
Claudia Puig writing for USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
stated that the film "has it all" with an "offbeat perspective" and "magical realism style that works exquisitely." She gave The 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." Robert Wilonsky thought that Johnson had "infused The 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".
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
commented how the film's "acting is a delight" but it was "too smug and pleased with itself". He continued by complaining that the film had "too many encores and curtain calls" Robert Abele's review of The Brothers Bloom for the Los 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.