The Brothers Bloom (2008)

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Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In) English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

The Brothers Bloom is very hard to categorise but it is probably even harder to really warm to despite a number of strengths. There are things about this film which have a lot of merit; the opening voiceover sequence, the performances of a talented ensemble of actors, an interesting basic premise and a quirky sense of humour. However, to my mind the viewer is pushed away and distracted from these strengths by a couple of significant weaknesses; the film is far too clever and knowing for its own good (queue one-legged cat on skateboard) and the plot has a number of gaping holes which don't really make sense. To my mind there is a much better film in this material than the final product. Having made those criticisms it is certainly an interesting production and something out of the main stream Hollywood style, which is always to be applauded.

The film was written and directed by Rian Johnson, who kicked off his career with the indie film Brick. This is his second feature.

The plot follows the lives and conmen careers of two orphan brothers, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody). The film opens with a sequence showing them pulling their first con at 13 & 10, including an excellent voiceover by Ricky Jay. The main action of the film occurs when they are 38 & 35 respectively. They have just completed a successful con in Berlin with the help of a large crew of assistants and their regular companion Bang-Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), a non-communicative Japanese explosives expert. Following the celebrations, Bloom tells Stephen that he has had enough of cons and wants 'an unwritten life'. Stephen tries to talk him out of leaving but Bloom insists and decides to hide in Montenegro. Of course Stephen tracks him down to talk him into one more con. The mark for the new con is Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz), a lonely heiress who collects hobbies. That means she tries lots of different things without really getting attached to any of them. Her wealth is seemingly unending; however she is looking for adventure and love. Bloom stages a fairly improbable accident in order to attract her attention and they involve her in their plans. Also involved are a valuable old book, a museum curator (or at least that's who he says he is) Max Melville (Robbie Coltrane), Russian gangsters and Stephen & Bloom's old mentor, Diamond Dog (Maximillian Schell). The action travels the world including Prague, Mexico, New Jersey, Greece and Tokyo.

This film is really a story about telling stories and at the same time a tale about brothers and the lengths they go to for each other. The performances are certainly strong, especially the main protagonists, and there a lots of interesting quirks and whimsical behaviours. As I mentioned above the quirkiness and whimsy are often overdone which detracts from their effect. I saw the first ten minutes of this film on a plane and was keen to see the rest of it but was disappointed to find that the rest of the film didn't really live up to the start.

Worth seeing for fans of cinema but not really one to recommend to all and sundry.

Video

The feature is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen.

The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was very good.

The colour was excellent showing the colourful production design.

I noticed some minor MPEG compression artefacts here and there such as at 51:10 and 68:20 but nothing alarming. There was also some edge enhancement to be seen such as at 81:50.

There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. They are clear and easy to read. There are also burned in subtitles for the occasional foreign languages.

The layer change was not noticeable during playback but occurs at 69:56.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The audio is very good.

This DVD contains three audio tracks, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448Kb/s, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio Descriptive soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to understand. The subtitles proved useful for the occasional hard to catch line.

The music consists of some cool jazz and rock songs which suit the style of the film.

The surround speakers were surprisingly well used providing significant atmosphere and directional effects such as car noises.

The subwoofer was also well used for music, thunder, trains, cars and gunshots.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

The menu includes an intro, music and animation.

In Bloom : Behind the Scenes Making Of (15:43)

This featurette is certainly more behind the scenes than making of. It is basically lots of onset footage with a few text captions explaining who is who. Nothing overly interesting is revealed.

Deleted Scenes (33:39)

A large selection of deleted scenes which including quite a few interesting things but also show that lots of ideas were shot and not used which might indicate a director not clear on what he is trying to achieve. A non-optional directors commentary is included.

Theatrical Trailer (2:16)

Quality trailer.

The Region 1 version adds

• Director's Commentary
• Spanish 5.1 soundtrack
• Image Gallery
• Storyboard Comparisons

The Region 4 version has the following not included in Region 1

• Theatrical Trailer
• Audio Descriptive track
• 2.0 soundtrack option

Region 1 gets the nod.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio is very good.

    A small selection of decent quality extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall