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Bloom a la Blu

Genres that I can never get enough of include: crime (heists in particular), westerns, and con artist jobs. I'm sure there are more, but those immediately come to mind. I hadn't watched Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom until Summit provided me with a review copy of the rental-only Blu-ray. I didn't find myself outright disgusted and appalled with it, as Jeff did, but instead enjoyed it a great deal. The movie charmed me and I was eager to dig into the supplemental features on the Blu-ray, which hasn't been the case with many movies this year.

I wasn't part of the throng of enthusiastic bloggers/writers/journalists/fans who "pimped it large" during Bloom's limited theatrical run, which never reached more than 200 or so screens nationwide. It feels to me like Summit didn't know where to put it, and I still firmly believe it was a good move to put it against summer blockbusters instead of Oscar season. I'm not terribly familiar with the release date moves that happened before that, so sorry for my ignorance.

Recent missives hurled hither and yon all over the net as a result of recent FTC regulation changes have found various writers shouting "sellout" and "who can be bought?" into the air and at one another. Unlike some of my colleagues, I don't really know Rian well on a personal basis. Unlike a number of buzz campaigns for other movies I've seen come and go, I've seen a great deal of voluntary disclosure from writers who've had "face-time" with Rian or an ongoing friendship of some sort. It's one of those advocacy campaigns that really came from the right place, and that means a lot in an atmosphere where people get into the blogging racket exclusively to touch the famous people and work their own angle.

The reason I'm bringing this up aside from now disclosing myself that I met Rian briefly at Butt Numb A Thon X last year (and have maintained a very limited correspondence with him) is that this whole FTC thing is thematically tied to the thing about Bloom that won me over. There are plenty of solid, on-the-level people doing this online writing gig, but make no mistake, there are tons of aspiring and working writers in it for what they can juice the gig for and nothing more. They have a sense of entitlement that the con should always go their way, and instead of hone their skills and do what they do well (usually not much for these hucksters), they skate by misrepresenting themselves to their readers.

Penelope (Rachel Wiesz) is getting conned from the moment she runs into the Bloom boys, but I quickly got wise to the fact she was smart enough to know pretty quickly that she was being taken. The people who go wild for the hucksters among the movie bloggers (love, hate, or disagree with the term) are just like Penelope: getting exactly what they want out of the con. These are the envious, the want-to-be's, the people who wish they had the life, access, and perks and none of the work. It was really rather poetic to see this whole debate play out all over blogs and Twitter while I was tucking in to this movie.

I found the whole damn thing appealing and easily re-watchable, from Brody & Ruffalo to Wiesz and physical comedienne extraordinaire Rinko Kikuchi. The Feature Commentary with Johnson and producer Ram Bergman was a great listen, partly thanks to the fact it seems Rian is quite a DVD devotee himself and knows what makes for a good commentary. I should also mention here that I participated in a call he put out for questions or contributions on Twitter (before he had any idea who I was) while he was recording this track, and so as a result my Twitter handle comes up shouting out Fantastic Fest toward the end. Also mentioned are friends and colleagues Will Goss of Cinematical and James Rocchi of MSN Movies/Redbox, both to hilarious effect, whether you know them or not. One of the best solid anecdotes thrown out is regarding why Johnson thinks Robbie Coltrane did the movie (it relates to his lust for vintage autos).

The other extras are worth watching (again, for once!). From Sketch to Celluloid [12:29] is a comparison of early and later storyboards to finished film. The Behind the Scenes featurette [15:35] is more easy to pay attention to than others that seem to just plant a camcorder on the ground 100 feet from the action. The twenty Deleted Scenes [32:48] with or without commentary by director Rian Johnson are more illuminating on the shaving-down process than other sets of similarly cut material on other discs I've reviewed this year.

Why on Earth it is that Summit has decided to forego making Bloom available to purchase in time for the lucrative Holiday Buying Season here in the US absolutely mystifies me. It's rental-only until January, when you'll be able to buy it in stores and order it from online outlets. My pledge earlier today regarding those who illegally download Trick R Treat stands for this title as well, but unfortunately, that big window has resulted in more than a few "general consumers" on Twitter spouting off about how angry it makes them. "I don't want to pay to rent it now and then pay to own it, I just want to buy the damn thing!" they say, and I can't help but agree with them. There is still time for Summit to bump that release up, right? Leave your opinions on this in the comments, and I'll be sure that they're passed on to people at the studio. Do be civil, but don't hold back from being brutally honest.