In a world of Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, and the Cohen Brothers; can an indie film from a relatively unknown director still be original? Writer/Director Rian Johnson’s 2008 Indie, The Brothers Bloom, proves that the answer is a resounding, yet cooly-understated ‘Yes.’

The Brothers Bloom, a tale of two adopted con men and their attempt to exploit a young heiress, proves to be something akin to the misadventures of The Blues Brothers and the post-modern bite of Fight Club. Johnson’s cult film charms with cleverly-written wit, brilliant visuals and eccentric Hipster/Steam Punk undertones.

Johnson follows up his breakout film, Brick, with a piece that demonstrates maturity, and value for the natural details of life. Scenes aren’t rushed, nor dull and overly dramatic. Subtle things like unorthodox scene transitions and slowly-timed close-ups work to bring viewers into this world of the bizarre and conniving.

But what carries this film is the characters. Johnson, the ‘clever bastard’ he is, carefully crafts each word spoken by these characters to be venerable, effortless and natural.

With that said, the casting choice allowed this script to go unharmed or abused. Adrian Brody (Bloom), Mark Ruffalo (Stephen), Rachel Weisz (Penelope) and Rinko Kikuchi (Bang Bang) breathe a perfect sense of vulnerability, oddity and realness to the words on the screen. It’s hard not to listen. Even as Weisz mumbles mousy, barely audible quips to the Brody and Ruffalo’s characters, Johnson has us.

In the end, this film offers a grounded, understated perspective of arrested development. Each character’s emotion immaturity plays a role in their own faults and future mistakes. Nevertheless, their downfall results in this indie’s triumph.