Bloom

One reviewer was put off by the bodily functions (almost) portrayed . Ah well, but that is life. Does this person ever watch televison past 8:00pm? Another was so vitriolic I checked their bio; doesn't seem to like very much about about anything. Ulysses was not voted the greatest novel of the 20th century by literary critics for no reason. The average novel is to Ulysses as the "Sound of Music" is to Mozart's "Don Giavonni". The movie is a beautiful "abstract" of the novel and would hopefully tempt someone into reading the novel. It is difficult and demands some helpful books about it to wend your way through it, but the effort is well worth it. Joseph Campbell in "Wings of Art" investigates several of its underlayments, especially the influence of Bhuddism in the novel.

I never believed Joyce's ULYSSES could be managed in a movie. But here it is...to a certain point. One must read the Joyce novel to fully get all it offers. However, this is a fine companion. Rea as the title character is as likable as Bloom himself. And Molly at the tail end brings Molly Bloom's inner workings to life. Here is a version "with all its belongings on show."

This is to me a masterpiece. But without Anglo subtities I'll either have to transcribe & translate the Spanish subtitles, watch it with someone who knows Spanish well, or read the original, Joyce's Epic Masterpiece the all time Classic, Ulysses. Even so it is a fun & entertaining introduction to Joyce.

An utterly puerile production. I have seen better acting in school plays and primary school plays at that. How could anyone believe that Buck Mulligan was a student ... even a mature student? One reviewer thought Stephen Rea's rendering of Bloom was memorable in its vulnerability - it looked more like stage fright to me. It contains practically nothing of the character of the book, and why start with Molly? or was that just to catch the attention of the prurient. The pace of the film was painfully slow which of course made it impossible to capture the constant turmoil in the minds of the characters. One of the charms of the novel was the change in style from episode to episode in which the film Ulysses (1967) was at least partially successful. Do not waste time with this. Watch the 1967 version.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, but it was a struggle to watch to the end. Watch it only if there's nothing else.

Bloom Since I love the television show 24, which breaks neatly into each hour of a single day, I figured there was a chance I'd like the movie Bloom, whose two hours cover 18 of a single day. Just kidding. Aside from the day-long time frame, the projects share nothing in common. Whereas 24's Jack Bauer saves the world at least three times, kills 20-50 people, blows up a half dozen buildings and never stops to eat or use the bathroom in a day, Bloom's Leopold Bloom (originated by James Joyce in Ulysses) avoids mayhem while walking around Dublin, finding plenty of time to eat and use the toilet during his day. Bloom is a shocker for those groomed on current movie mayhem staples, which makes it tough for director Sean Walsh to succeed in his goal of exposing the basic Ulysses story elements to a wide audience, one where he finds very few members have read the book that has been rated as the best of the twentieth century. Walsh's approach is to reduce the work it takes to absorb Joyce's writing style, but it could well be that the work is mandatory for appreciating the what happens. Correlating each of Ulysses' 18 chapters to those in Homer's The Odyssey is part of the fun. So is going through the different patterns of each chapter, bringing about an oddly rewarding obsessive compulsive appeal. This is lost in Bloom, where the exact timeframe is dispensed with, losing The Odyssey correlation along the way. Still, the basics of the story are covered, with good eye towards recreating early 1900s Dublin and beautiful choices in outlying beach scenery. Performers are effective, led by The Crying Game's Oscar nominee Stephen Rea in the title role. Hugh O'Conner gives the Stephen Dedalus character a more ingenuous appeal than found in the book, making him easier to like in the film. Angeline Ball maintains her figure better than the novel's Molly Bloom, but has a good take on her extended, famous soliloquy, bringing a soft and meaningful reading of the uniquely written piece whose eight mere sentences run about 60 pages in print. Her reading is a highlight of the film, taking advantage of one of the book's segments that seems the most theatrical and cinematic. The other is the Circe chapter of hallucinogenic activities in a brothel. It would take work to do it right, with part of the challenge being that the work has to be disguised and flow easily, as Terry Gilliam managed in Brazil. Walsh, on the other hand, is hampered by his low budget, which lessens the necessary effects for the sequence. He has his actors play it too broadly, with music that seems to be saying "This is funny, laugh damn it." The scene will be expected by readers but should take newcomers completely off guard, with no hint at why it's there or what it means. Most of the film works that way. Ulysses readers, on the other hand, will recognize most key elements and perhaps enjoy recalling favorite moments from the book so that ultimately the movie becomes a literary, rather than cinematic, experience.

Enjoyed the movie. This movie was well done and the screenplay had to be difficult due to Joyce's writing style

This film adaptation at only 105 minutes simply leaves out way too much of the James Joyce classic. It especially leaves out much of the humour, which is inexcusalbe in a heavily satirical book. Lengthy chapters are reduced to "cameo" appearances or are omitted entirely. Comparisons with the 1967 film adaptation are inevitable so I will confine myself to three: First: Stephen Rea is a fine actor but simply too old here to be playing Leopold Bloom. Rea looks like a late middle-aged wreck of a human being and not the early middle-aged, damaged but still optimistic character that dominates the book. Milo O'Shea nailed the spirit of the part in the earlier film. Second: This version is simply too glossy, the cinimatography too well done, the characters in period costume looking too much like they just reported direct from wardrobe and make-up. By contrast the 1967 version, although given a contemporary setting, was filmed in black and white and has the right sense of gritiness about it. It also gets across more of the humour. Third: Hugh O'Conor is a much livelier Stephen than Maurice Roeves and the one notable improvement over the first film adaptation. In short: If you wish to see Ulysses on film best to skip this version and stick with the 1967 original, which is far from perfect but closer to the spirit of the book. Still better, get the unabridged audio recording from Naxos read by Jim Norton and also available from Amazon.

Thank you for your service. I enjoyed the movie you had sent me. I give you 5 stars.

Sehr gut geeignet für die Vorbereitung auf die Lektüre des Romans.

Ulysses is one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. It's value is more for its imagination than the consistent quality of its prose, but what the heck - Joyce can imagine to his heart's content - I love it! Its stream of consciousness style draws on associative psychology, where a word or phrase could pull you into an entirely different train of thought than started on. It's kinda Freudian (though Joyce would never admit that). When I read it, I always imagined how hard it'd be to adapt this sprawling work - where there's a different style pretty much every chapter, and philosophical thoughts on the history of literature to boot! 'Bloom' starring Stephen Rea and Angeline Ball does an unbelievable job of putting Joyce's words to film. It tries to recreate his style by inserting flashbacks over the interior monologues its characters have. It's a bit of a twist on a widely-used film technique - I would love to see someone do something like this again (though I suppose Chris Nolan's 'Memento' is a good comparison). I do have gripes about the screenplay - it leaves out some key parts in the novel that really bring out different sides of Bloom's character. For instance, it excises a good part of the 5th episode, different parts of the hilarious 6th episode where Bloom turns the idea of a funeral on its head with his practicality, and key parts of the 17th episode. The play style of Circe (episode 15) is brilliant, one of the best parts of the movie! It's impossible to include everything in an entertaining film from Joyce's novel: there's simply too much material to work with here. This movie does a fantastic job. I think the Molly Bloom sequences are lovely and hilarious - definite favourites that make me say, "Yes I said I will Yes."

wie auch das Buch kann man diesen Film nicht in einem durch anschauen bzw. lesen. Aber wie erwartet komplex und gut gespielt.

While much less thorough than the version that starred Milo O'Shea, this one has the great virtue (IMO) in keeping to the historical period of Ulysses - not an easy thing in c2000 Dublin.