The Brothers Bloom

Title: The Brothers Bloom

Director: Rian Johnson

Released: 2008

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Rinko Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane, Maximillian Schell, Ricky Jay

Plot: Stephen (Ruffalo) and Bloom (Brody) are brothers and career con artists who travel the world with their largely mute sidekick Bang Bang (Kikuchi) working every more intricate schemes to swindle millionares. Having tired of the life Bloom decides he wants out only to be drawn into one final scheme to swindle the eccentric New Jersey heiress Penelope (Weisz), who he soon finds himself unexpectedly falling for.

Review: Thanks to some pretty horrible distribution this film unsurprisingly slipped under the radar for most people, as despite being the follow up to director Johnson’s critically acclaimed neo-noir debut “Brick” here in the UK it seemed to constantly be subjected to continual delays in its theatre release before eventually shuffling onto DVD with zero fanfare. Despite this Johnson continued to direct other projects mainly in TV most notably for “Breaking Bad” before the release of his hi-concept time travel thriller “Looper”.

Once again bringing a modern twist to a classic setting, here Johnson shoots the film with retro styling while throwing in the occasional modern element to remind us that the events are actually happening in modern times than the 1940’s styling would have you believe it’s set in, with Johnson unsurprisingly admitting to find inspiration for the film from the likes of “Paper Moon” and “The Sting”. At the same time he once again proves himself in procession of an eye for interesting characters as he once again gives us a cast of colourful and interesting characters.

At the centre of the story the two brothers are great characters thanks to Brody and Ruffalo alongside Weisz and Kikuchi embodying their roles, with the chemistry being Brody and Ruffalo being especially believable as the brothers who skills have kept them isolated from the outside world, to the point where Bloom feels that he doesn’t know who he is anymore from the years he’s spent playing various roles in the schemes concocted by his older brother. Together they fill in for the others shortcomings to form a strong team with their sidekick Bang Bang handling the more specialised aspects of their schemes or precisely blowing things up. Bang Bang of course is classic creation and one which could easily have stolen the film from the leads, as barely says a word throughout the film communicating via simple gestures which never fail to express what she is feeling at any given moment, even at time carrying on whole conversations as seen by when she questions Blooms sexual activities from the previous night. Still Kikuchi with her interesting outfit choices and real talent for visual comedy truly owns this role and left me truly wanting to see more of this character.

Rounding out the foursome is Penelope another colourful character thanks to her habit of collecting hobbies ranging from playing the harp and photography to the more random such as kung-fu and juggling chainsaws to help her cope with her self-imposed isolation. Of course this makes her the perfect mark for the brothers latest scheme which sees them posing as antique smugglers attempting a steal a rare book in Prague which Penelope is more than participate in. Weisz brings a great energy to the role even spending time learning to look like she knew how to do the assorted hobbies Penelope has amassed including playing the banjo, violin, guitar, piano, aswell as juggling, break dancing, skateboarding and giraffe unicycling. Help with the skateboarding and rap skills would surprisingly come from Brody who is surprisingly proficient in both skills. Sadly I was unable to find any footage of any of these training sessions as personally I never knew the guy had such skills, but then I didn’t know that Owen Wilson could skateboard either until her showed up in the Spike Jonze directed skateboard movie “Yeah Right”.

Always a fan of twist here, this proves to be the undoing for Johnson who seemingly got caught up with the colourful characters who appear throughout that the plotting became kind of secondary. The main issue being with the actual plot that Stephen devises that ultimately becomes so overly complex that it becomes far too confusing at times to follow and understand the roles which everyone plays or what the actual objective really is. This confusion is only added to by what is essentially an extended cameo by Robbie Coltrane whose star power makes his character ultimately seem far more significant than he really is and really the kind of role which should have been given to perhaps an actor of lower status, not that it isn’t of course nice as always to see Coltrane as always.

Maximillian Schell in what would ultimately be his final role adds a touch of villainy to the proceedings as their former mentor Diamond Dog, though thanks to his sporadic appearances and lack of any real development comes off weaker than I would have liked especially when he is supposed to be the films big evil, though ends up coming off as a morality comparison, to make the brothers schemes seem less evil by comparison.

While the film is full of Johnson's usual visual flair especially when it comes to his eye for the smaller details which frequently add to scenes throughout the film, its just a shame especially when he I giving us such fun characters that the plot is frequently so confused that it stops me from recommending this film more, but as a flawed watch you can do worse.

Detachment

Title: Detachment
Director: Tony Kaye
Released: 2011
Starring: Adrian Brody, Sami Gayle, James Cann, Lucy Liu, Betty Kaye, Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gay Harden, Bryan Cranston and Blythe Danner

Plot: Chronicling of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of a substitute teacher Henry Barthes (Brody).

 

Review: Tony Kaye has had something of a troubled history when it has comes to his feature film projects with his astounding debut “American History X” suffering from considerable studio interference leading Kaye to disown the final cut, while failing to have his name removed from the film. With no copy of Kaye’s preferred cut in known existence it remains to be seen which was the stronger version. Meanwhile Kaye’s second feature “Black Water Transit” would also suffer from studio issues when the production company went bankrupt during filming, leaving it unfinished alongside projects by Taylor Hackford and David O Russell. Now finally after what seems like an eternity we finally get a new film from Kaye as he turns his attention to the decline of the education system in American high schools and the struggle facing substitute teacher Henry Barthes (Brody), who is still determined to reach out to the disillusioned and often unteachable students, while his fellow teachers try to cope in their own ways with the stresses of their daily routine. At the same time Henry is also attempting to save a teenage prostitute Erica (Gayle) from a life on the streets, as he tries to take what he teaches out of the classroom.

Opening with interview footage with whom I assume are real teachers, sharing their views on teaching, aswell as what drew them to the profession, while this is intercut with this real life black and white footage we have colour footage of Henry, speaking almost confession ally about his own situation. Still despite the odds being stacked against him, with students who couldn’t care less about their educational prospects, while his fellow staff have largely given up or switched to a diet of cynicism, dark humour or “Happy Pills” with many just about ready to crack from the pressure cooker the school has become and yet Henry refuses to quit. Meanwhile outside of his classes, his outside life provides even less shelter from the daily issues, as he constantly has to deal with neglectful care home staff supposedly looking after his senile grandfather, while he lives out of a minimalist apartment and still despite these additional stresses, he remains focused on trying to save these kids, who everyone else has seemingly turned their back on.

Now please don’t start thinking that this is another bad class turned around by one good teacher kind of movie, as Kaye expands the focus beyond the classroom and often the school itself to paint a grim picture of society as a whole rather than just the failings and shortcomings of the public school system, as we are shown scenes like a hauntingly empty parents night were teacher sit in empty classrooms waiting for parents who will never come, no doubt having seemingly left the schools to raise their delinquent children. Even the moments of supposed colour in this dark world such as Henrys attempts to reach out to an outcast student (played by Kaye’s own daughter Betty) or even his attempt to save Erica are ultimately set to be swallowed by the darkness as it soon becomes about seeing what will finally make Henry crack.

Showing real confidence in terms of storytelling Kaye, thinks nothing of cutting away to scenes of other teachers trying to deal with the situation which surrounds them, with James Cann’s manically grinning jester Mr Seaboldt, twisting the obsenity riddled words of a student or addressing another’s questionable sense of school attire providing several of the films standout moments, much like Lucy Liu’s guidance councillor who finally cracks when faced with a teen with a highly delusional sense of reality and causing her to berating the teen with a bleak prophesy of their future, as she scream uselessly at them

“You will NOT be a model! You will forever be on a carousel, competing with 80% of the country for a minimum wage job for the rest of your life!”

True at times it can seem like a cameo fest, especially with Kaye casting Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gay Harden, Bryan Cranston and Blythe Danner, but I’m hardly complaining when their performances are often so suitably raw and believable.

Brody meanwhile is truly believable throughout, as he continues his recent chain of great performances, only making me wonder why he is still overlooked as an actor, with this film only adding further fuel to the argument, as he delivers monologues to his class in the hope that they will finally realise the importance of getting an education, while even the subtle way he handles an initial aggressive confrontation with one of his students to trashing his classroom after being accused of misconduct by a fellow teacher, it is really hard to find fault here, with the ones I could find such as him the subplot involving Erica coming off at times more than a little unlikely, being more in relation to the script rather than his performances.

While it might not paint the most rosy of pictures of the day to day life of teachers, it at least attempts to end on a positive note, with Henry reading the opening to “The House of Usher” as the camera moves surreally through an abandoned school, leaving the audience with the impression that there is still hope left for the situation. Still it remains a triumphant follow up to “American History X” and while perhaps slightly harder to watch, it hopefully marks the start of a new beginning for Kaye as a feature film director as this is bold and exciting film making at its best.