Bloom

Bloom

Bloom
List Price: $4.59
Our Price: $4.55
You Save: $5.39 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.41 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Angeline Ball, Hugh O'Conor, Patrick Bergin, Stephen Rea
Brand: MTI
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-08-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Mti Home Video

DVD Reviews of Bloom

DVD Review: Middling
Summary: 3 Stars

Bloom is an Irish film of the James Joyce novel Ulysses by director Sean Walsh. Let me be up front- I think Ulysses is a vastly overrated book, with moments of superbness and many more moments of wretchedness. It was Joyce, Woolf, and their ilk that started a good deal of art down the road to narcissistic hermeticism. That all said, while the film Bloom is not a great film, in and of itself, it is a good film, with moments of brilliance, and does a far better job at explicating the events of the first Bloomsday, June 16th, 1904, than the book ever has, despite what pretentious critics say.
Basically, nothing much happens on that day, yet three main characters- a married couple, Leopold (Stephen Rea) and Molly Bloom (Angeline Ball), and an aspiring artist and scholar named Stephen Dedalus (Hugh O'Conor)- protagonist of Joyce's earlier A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man. The three perambulate about the world of Dublin on that day, meeting and missing each other on several occasions. Dedalus is trammeled by his own inadequacies, and rebelling against the established order, while the Blooms deal with the slow death of their marriage, precipitated by the untimely death of their son, and aided by Molly's flagrant infidelities. Yet, the book takes these circumstances and subordinates them to the intellect, in the conceit of `stream of consciousness' writing, which is basically unpunctuated interior dialogue. Of course, the thing about stream of consciousness is that it is really the conceit, not the real way people think, lest punctuation would never have gotten started. Think of how often your thoughts veer and back up, U-turn and screech to a halt. The mind is certainly not like a river, but more like a potholed city street.
The film, however, does not suffer from these limitations. The visual image can work on multiple levels with far more immediacy than the word, so the `day' of the book can be easily condensed. Some Joyceans will complain that the film takes things out of order, and mixes many of the chapters together, yet a) this is a film, not a book, and b) that is akin to deriding those who deride Joyce's approach in the book (regardless of whether or not he succeeds- I vote nay), as well as being the height of hypocrisy. There are marvelous images, and truly the cinematography is the best thing in the film. Rea is also great as Leopold Bloom, while ball and O'Conor also have moments of brilliance- including Molly Bloom's closing soliloquy- the last chapter in the book- which the filmmaker wisely opens and closes the film with, so that Molly is indelibly stamped in the viewer's mind while most of the rest of the film explores Leopold and Dedalus.... Almost all of the flaws in the film are carryover flaws from the novel. Film, in fact, would seem to be a medium that Joyce was born to indulge in. Had he been born thirty or so years later I think he may have become the first great screenwriter, and may never have dabbled in novels. Film is far closer to poetry than prose, and Joyce's prose certainly is among the closest published skirts near poetry. Instead of `not doing justice' to the book the film really makes the book far more relevant to readers- hardcore or casual. Its only flaws, outside of the book's, is that it could have been a bit more daring. I mean, if Ulysses is rent of nudity, just how avant garde can it be?
Overall, I recommend this film on its own right, and as sort of a Cliff's Notes to the book, especially considering the excellent director's commentary. But, it's a so-so book to begin with, so take the former notation in that light. Yes?
More Bloom reviews:
1 2 3

Description of Bloom

BLOOM - DVD Movie
Bestsellers in DVD
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] ImageThe Story of Jeremiah [VHS]
Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS] ImageWresting With God [VHS]
by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $19.99
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS] ImageStudy Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]
Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $44.00
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS] ImageTempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops: $9.98
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/Party Video [VHS] ImageTempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Strike the Original Match [VHS] ImageStrike the Original Match [VHS]
New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $14.95
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] ImageMedjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]
JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008 ImageMayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008
by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User ImagePediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User
by Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Cost Accounting [VHS] ImageCost Accounting [VHS]
by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Michael Collins ImageMichael Collins
NEESON,LIAM; Release date: 1997-04-08; DVD
Best price: $6.90
Price in other shops: $14.98
The Field ImageThe Field
Lions Gate; Release date: 2002-02-26; DVD
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops: $14.98
Dancing At Lughnasa ImageDancing At Lughnasa
STREEP,MERYL; Release date: 1999-06-15; DVD
Best price: $5.28
Price in other shops: $14.99
Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses ImageUlysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses
by Don Gifford, Robert J. Seidman
University of California Press; Published: 2008-01-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.31
Price in other shops: $31.95
Mrs. Dalloway ImageMrs. Dalloway
First Look Pictures; Release date: 2004-05-25; DVD
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops: $9.98
A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man ImageA Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man
Release date: 2000-09-12; DVD
Best price: $16.94
Price in other shops: $19.98
Nora ImageNora
First Look Pictures; Release date: 2002-05-21; DVD
Best price: $3.86
Price in other shops: $14.98
James Joyce's Dublin: The Ulysses Tour ImageJames Joyce's Dublin: The Ulysses Tour
WEA DES Moines Video; Release date: 2007-07-24; DVD
Best price: $7.92
Price in other shops: $14.95
Ulysses ImageUlysses
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2000-09-12; DVD
Best price: $12.74
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Dead ImageThe Dead
Lionsgate Home Entertainment; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops: $14.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners