Bloom (2003)

Bloom: Directed by Sean Walsh. With Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Hugh O’Conor, Neilí Conroy. Adapted from James Joyce’s Ulysses, Bloom is the enthralling story of June 16th, 1904 and a gateway into the consiousness of its three main characters: Stephen Dedalus, Molly Bloom and the extraordinary Leopold Bloom.

“If they made1001 movie versions of _Ulysses_, none would be as beautifully and compellingly cinematic as the book itself. This is only the second version, as far as I know. But I enjoyed watching it. I suspect it was an effort to expose the book to the Good People of Ireland (Flann Ou0026#39; Brien) in preparation for the big centennial Bloomsday party–so they would know what they were celebrating, and so that the hapless tourists who wondered into Dublin on that day to experience the famous Irish hospitality, etc., might know what these people were celebrating as well. He used to be on the ten-pound note, Joyce, before the Irish switched to Euros.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI donu0026#39;t know if this movie would make any sense at all to people who havenu0026#39;t read the book itself. I have read the book itself, more than once, and some parts of it more even than that. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis version appears to have been written by Gerty MacDowell, after she grew up and got a job at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, in 2003 (it takes some of us longer to grow up than others–and it seems to have taken her 99 years). I am looking forward to the next 999 versions. Joyce is reported to have said that he meant to keep academics busy for the next 300 years. God only knows how many years he wanted to keep film makers busy (it is a fact that he once tried to open a movie theater in Dublin Himself).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStephen Rheasu0026#39; Bloom is nicely Chaplinesque, as is just about everything else in the movie, including the music. All told, _Bloom_ is a nice exercise in nostalgia for a Joyce and a turn-of-the-twentieth-century Ireland that never existed–nostalgia is like that. Nice is nice, but this movie, it goes without saying, is nowhere near as great as _Ulysses_ is a book. Most of the characters and dialogue, as best as I can remember, comes from the book itself–but you canu0026#39;t capture much of that in two hours. But, then, there is … Loveu0026#39;s Old Sweet song.”