Anachronistic? Moi?

The Brothers Bloom concerns two of the greatest con artists in the world and their various cons, and it is engaging and funny and, in the end, quite suspenseful. It also plays with time in ways that intrigue. Set in the now, it nevertheless features a telegram being read, stop, and replied to, stop. I can’t imagine what the yoof are going to make of that. There are steamers too, and steam locomotives, although despite plenty of opportunity and motivation the train never managed to thrust its muscular way into a tunnel when I expected it to. I’m not going to examine the point that Stephen, Bloom and Penelope (geddit?) are “based on” the characters in Joyce's Ulysses. Aside from their names, there doesn’t seem to be any other supporting evidence. Two particular delights were the sound-track (although I’m not too sure why) and Robbie Coltrane. Given recent discussions about Tutti Frutti that I’ve been having in various places, it was a real treat to see him ham things up so delightfully. The mad Russian Diamond Dog (Maximillian Schell) was Fun too.

All in all, well worth watching.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5