Last night I finally got to see The Brothers Bloom, aka the second film from Rian Johnson, the lad who made the excellent Brick. I won’t explain the movie too much, because at the top of the clip embedded below Johnson will take care of that for me.
What I will say is that the movie is far more energetic and funny than I was expecting. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz both get to break out into some excellent comic moments, Adrien Brody is a solid straight man and Johnson and editor Gabriel Wrye turn Rinko Kikuchi’s odd right-hand woman Bang Bang into one of the best deadpan comic performances I’ve seen in months. It’s a tremendously entertaining film not only about the art of conning a mark, but about how the Brothers might be conning themselves, and how movies work to put one over on willing marks like all of us.
The first seven minutes are now online thanks to Hulu. You’ll see the birth of the Brothers Bloom as a con team, and get an idea for the film’s pacing and sense of humor. You’ll also get to see Max Records, who plays the elder brother Stephen and will soon be seen in Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are.
The Brothers Bloom opens in NY and LA on May 15 and everywhere else May 29.