I have a weakness for con capers; Leverage, White Collar, Music Man, the Lady Eve and Silvia Scarlet. I’ve even watched The Sting. I just can’t help falling head over heals for the fast talking gentlemen thief.
When it’s Indie film with parallels to classic literature, well for me that’s honey.
I saw trailers for The Brothers Bloom on PBS when it came out in cinema. Unfortunately they decided it was only popular enough to release in important places and I guess Fairbanks Alaska didn’t qualify.
So, I waited five months and bought it for $9.99 at a gas station.
This movie is an epic! there is no other way to describe it. It tells the story of to bothers who have reached the pinnacle of the con game. The oldest Steven creates elaborate cons and his younger brother Bloom plays them out. They’ve been living this way since they were kids growing up in foster care and its gotten to the point where Bloom can no longer tell what is real and what is part of Stevens story. This worries him and he wants out. Steven talks him in to one last job, swindling two million out of lonely eccentric heiress named Penelope.
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| Bloom, Penelope, Steven |
The second part of the movie is played out like a good old-fashioned international con caper. During this section Penelope and Bloom fall in love and ends with Penelope telling bloom that she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. In a normal movie this would be the end of the story but this is a far from normal movie.
The third part of the movie is much darker. The brothers head to Russia in order to lose Penelope. Through the second part of the movie they lightly reference Old Russian and Greek tragedies. I’m not a huge fan of tragedies and Russian novels tend to be a little to dark for me but I understood enough of the references to have some idea of an ending still the ending caught me by surprise. I understood the foreshadowing but I didn’t think they would actually go that far.
Ones you’ve watched it go back and watch it you’ll be astounded at how much symbolism and foreshadow is woven the lighter parts of the story. Near the end of the movie Diamond Dog, the brothers sinister ex-guardian mentions Stevens love of symbolism “Red for temptation, white for salvation.” he says as he admires Stevens con. When you re-watch the movie note the use of red and white throughout the movie.
This director has a gift for the delicate ate of crafting a story. Like Stevens cons every tiny thing has a deeper meaning. I’ve watched it five times, ones with commentary and I’m still noticing new things.
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| Steven, Bloom, Bang bang |
By far the best part of this movie, better then the dialog or the symbolism is the clothing. The movie is set in the modern day but it feels like it was made in the 1930’s. This may have something to do with the beautiful old world cities they set the move in but I think it has more to do with the clothes. They are not period exactly but they’re defiantly not modern. It’s mix of formal European clothing and a classy vintage sense of style you just don’t see any more. It also has a lot to do with the hats. So much can be portrayed through a hat. If you wear a hat tilted over your eyes it says something about your character. If you wear it snugly on the top of your head it means you’re a strait forward no nonsense type of person. If you wear a wide brimmed hat at the back of your head that mean you’re an easy-going optimistic type. The acting world lost a valuable tool when they stopped wearing hats, just my opinion.
Minerva
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