I know, I know, we all love Rian Johnson. He's young, he's hip, he keeps tabs on bloggers and invites them to moderate Q&As about his films, he makes movies like Brick and The Brothers Bloom that are beautiful and thoughtful and all that. I like Rian Johnson too! I promise!
But I've gotta say, I really don't like this idea of recording a commentary track for The Brothers Bloom, intended to be downloaded to your iPod and listened to in the theater-- on your second viewing, of course. You can download the track here, courtesy of Apple and once you listen you'll hear Johnson's instructions on when press play to have his voice whispering in your ear throughout the entire viewing.
And sure, you can sit quietly in your row, earbuds in ears at a volume that your fellow moviegoers won't hear, and get the inside scoop on the movie you presumably love enough to pay another $12 to see with commentary. But I'll tell you this-- if I saw you in my local art house theater, watching The Brothers Bloom with headphones in, I won't assume you're listening to this audio track. I'll assume you're an asshole. I know I apparently have ridiculous standards of expected behavior from my fellow moviegoers, but something about this just seems all wrong. The point of seeing a movie in a theater is to experience it, live, with the rest of your audience. Having something else in your ear would dilute the experience entirely.
Having listened to a little of Johnson's commentary, it sounds really witty and entertaining and exactly the kind of thing I would want on a DVD. I just have no idea why anyone would want to include it as part of the theater-going experience. But hey, so long as you're not sitting on my row, I guess I won't stop you.
