Lumpfish

“ My favorite line in Rian Johnson’s crafty crime caper, The Brothers Bloom, comes early on when a young girl eager to fall hook, line and sinker for the yarn being spun before her turns on a skeptic and says, “Shut up, Dave.” Those three words speak to the role that storytelling plays in our lives, its unique capacity for making lives better if only we will it to do so. In a genre often regarded more for its detached sense of cool above any real sense of character, it’s strange to see a con man movie be this funny and warm-hearted, refreshingly un-cynical in its inevitable effort to trick the audience as much as its characters. For these two hours, all the Daves of the world can go stuff it. ”

“ Interior, day. Con man Bloom (Adrien Brody) sits at the foot of a bed next to his mark, heiress Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz). But he’s not here for her millions, not any more. He’s fallen in love. They’re talking, and then suddenly they’re just looking at each other. He’s going to kiss her. She wants him to. But as he leans in, he pauses, and the look he gives her in that pause is sexier than anything else in a movie all year. ”

“ Following the parallel of con artistry and storytelling Johnson sets up in his film, The Brothers Bloom is the best con job ever because I got exactly what I wanted: a film that’s not only the year’s best, but one I’ll treasure for years and years to come. ”