Great screen writing

The best caper film of the last couple of years has to be “The Brothers Bloom” by writer/director Rian Johnson.

The beauty isn’t just in the story, which is lush, but it’s in the clever ways Johnson breaks the rules of writing. You can’t break the rules if you don’t know how to play the game (thus speaketh Rickie Lee Jones).

• The Brothers Bloom (Adrian Brody Mark Ruffalo) and are named Stephan and Bloom. And the latter is our protagonist. So either his name is “Bloom Bloom” or we never learn the given name of our protagonist.

• The story takes place in neverwhere. That is: It’s a mélange of past and present. People have cell phones and this year’s make of car, but people also take steam ships to Europe and send ‘wires’ to each other. Adrian Brody wears a bowler and ascots. There’s no way of knowing exactly when this story takes place.

• Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi plays Boom Boom, the third member of the con artist gang, whose arena is pyrotechnics. We’re told she speaks only three words of English, yet she hears and understands all of the dialogue, she dictates a wire message, etc. It’s a lovely bit of storytelling, having her not speak English and clearly understanding English.

Go rent “The Brothers Bloom.” It’s a joyous, over-the-top romp.