The 30th Best Director of All-Time: The Coen Brothers

havent seen all of them but orange and 2001, are great clockwork orange is top 150 2001 top 100 and punch drunk love is top 100 but from what ive seen of the master and blood they are up there too. and dr strangelove is top 100 (so is the graduate which i forgot.)

ive only seen it once but ive never seen a film like llewyn davis, one of the best of all time. also, you should do a ranking of the best moments in cinema history. some to consider

dark knight- boat scene
zodiac- dinner with gyllenhaal and ruffalo
taxi driver- saving foster
wizard of oz- giving them what they want
pulp fiction- samuel jackson robber
raging bull- punching at wall
godfather ii- im not dumb
citizen kane- susan leaves kane
wonderful life- prayer
no country- murders carla
llewyn davis- singing ‘oh ha ng me’
lord of the rings- killing the ring
once upon… america- ending
return of the jedi- killing palpatine
ai- pool scene
schindlers list- one more

I really love the Coen brothers. Initially I didn’t get them. I do think their films are more of an acquired taste, but either way I didn’t start off well – the first film of theirs I watched was Burn After Reading and I didn’t get it at all. I wasn’t used to their style and I’ve watched the film since (it is really good, I think it’s slightly better than Raising Arizona), but the first time I was left with such a sense of unfulfillment. Of course then I watched Fargo (quite recently actually – I studied them for the first time at around spring of 2020) and I fell head over hills for that film. Fargo is honestly such a masterpiece. And then goes everything else. I really like Big Lebowski and there’s some unease still left with me since the time I watched No Country for Old Men, but I think I agree that Fargo is their best work. Their brand is so distinctive – I think you could easily tell if what you’re watching is a Coen film (apart from its featuring McDromand or Clooney – both perfectly tailored to their style). The long distance frames, the black humour and -even if I don’t think that screenplay is all they’re great at- it is true that their dialogue is very unique (so many new words for a viewer whose first language isn’t English haha). They’re impeccably idiosyncratic. The mise en scene is also very specific. Their frames aren’t stuffed, I usually think they’re kind of minimalistic, in a way that the figures or the important objects stand out. This approach magnifies the impact of the events on screen (usually quite shocking as well). Their narratives are well crafted to a fault, their characters are always interesting. Their tendency to have the bad guy win is very characteristic as well, and it is often daunting to realise that characters who appear good willed or ordinary have more layers to them and are perfectly capable of the worst crimes (eg Clooney in Burn After Reading). Of course, this goes the other way around as well (eg Macy in Fargo). We always seem to find ordinary people in extraordinary situations. But it is really difficult for me to understand how anyone could point at the Coens and say that they’re all style and no substance. Besides that not always being a bad thing (Moulin Rouge!), the Coens always have something to say. Meditations on fate and greed are a very distinctive thing of theirs -you hit the nail on the head with that- and I think good and evil and their coexistence within everyone (nearly everyone – Bardem in No Country is probably an exception) seems to be something that they deal with a lot through characterisation. I’ve never watched a Coen film that doesn’t touch upon any theme. In fact there is something deeply tragic about many of their characters, and in this case Blood Simple comes to mind foremost. I still haven’t watched Inside Llewyn Davis and several others from your top 10 here and I’m really looking forward to a more extensive look at their work.

Miller’s Crossing is as perfect a film as I have ever seen, every element of production in perfect harmony, every shot worthy of a painting, every performance–sublime. It finds and stays balanced on a impossibly fine line between straight gangster flick and parody, but with never a wink. Amazing.
I am glad to see you singled it out for some love

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I finally got around to watching Inside Llewynn Davis. This film is essentially a change of pace and style for the Coen brothers, in which their accomplishment is remarkable.

More so than in most of their films, one should note the gorgeous photography; washed out, vintage and generously enriched by autumnal, greyish and earthy tones. The photography here gives the film texture and a flavour that allows us to truly immerse in the 1960’s folk scene.

The Coens, in their finest moments, are noted for their razor sharp, brilliantly exaggerated, poignant and darkly hilarious scripts. In Llewynn Davis, they drop all those idiosyncrasies and offer us a more harshly realistic, bare approach and an in-depth character study, like few they’ve ever indulged in. There are still cues of their unmistakable sense of humour here and there, as well as some of the themes they would grapple with in their following work (the undercover Soviet agent working at the bank towards the film’s end – Hail Caesar!), but by and large, this is a different film.

Their Llewynn Davis is a truly fascinating character. Proud, angry and alone, through his cinematic portrait it is that we study concepts such as selling out, compromising, grieving and letting go. This is a man who doesn’t have a place to sleep. A struggling artist, whose story begins with his getting beat up by a strange man in the back of the Gaslight café. This is the story of him, his partner Mike and a cat, or a couple of cats, that’s a little bit of both.

Llewynn is a man who cannot seem to find his place in the world. Unresolved anger for a society, a system and thereby a music scene that do not fit him, unresolved grief for the loss of his dear partner and, possibly, some unresolved issues with his father and family. He crashes from couch to couch, gig to gig and frustration to frustration. At one point he discovers that he may have left a woman pregnant with an unwanted baby. At another point he discovers that he has a child, somewhere (Akron, Ohio in particular). The Coens are too good to fall for the expected and quickly allow their film to unravel into a redemption arc. When Llewynn is faced with the dilemma of whether or not he will take the cat with him or leave it behind, he closes the car’s door, with the cat in it, and doesn’t look back. When he passes by Akron, Ohio he doesn’t seek out his ex-partner or their child. This isn’t a story about his becoming a better, more conventional, for lack of a better word, man. This is someone who takes no prisoners, lives and lets live, completely unbound. And that does not change. And yet, however unbound, Llewynn remains desperate, furious and needy.

As interesting as Llewynn is, what is even more intriguing is the film’s cats. One cat is Ulysses and the other remains unnamed. Well, let’s call it Frances? I’ll go with Frances. Anyhow. The cats, Llewynn’s comrades more than any other person in his life currently, have within them a little bit of Mike. From the very beginning of the film, we see Ulysses on top of Llewynn, as if to convey a sense of connection with our protagonist. They accompany him, one way or another, throughout his journey and we get the impression they may even guard him. A part of Llewynn is present in the cats as well. When, as he drives back from Chicago, he accidentally bumps onto a cat (possibly Frances), as he watches it regress into the woods, limping, he identifies with it. Llewynn doesn’t go looking for it. He lets the cat go, and with it, his grief and pain. In the key scene with F. Murray Abraham, we witness him go through a painful, but quiet realisation of his loss, of Mike’s absence and of the reality that he is now alone. The name Ulysses, attributed to the cat is all but random; the cat leaves and proceeds to return on its own a few days later – just like Ulysses’ journey back to Ithaca. In turn, Llewynn’s own personal story is something of an odyssey in his inner world, his frustration and pain, and in a spiteful, vindictive, unfair world out there. The link between the two worlds being Mike’s suicide, we get the idea Llewynn might really blame the system for his friend’s untimely passing.

Towards the end, Llewynn reaches the heights of anger, when he learns that Jean is getting gigs at the Gaslight thanks to sleeping with the owner. Betrayed by everyone but himself and his long gone friend, he melts down. Oscar Isaac is truly extraordinary in his performance here. Delivering furious monologues and tortured, silent yet eloquent glances, he becomes our Ulysses through this time and world that is so far from our own, and yet in many ways so similar to it. He shouts and cries and fails and mourns with such delicate sensitivity and honesty. Isaac never misses, takes us with him for the ride and sings away with one of the finest, most disarming acting performances of the decade.

The end. We see Llewynn perform at the Gaslight once more. After he finishes, he takes a moment, thinks for a bit and decides to sing Fare Thee Well, the song he performed with Mike. And in doing so, he finally lets go (reminiscent of Juliette Binoche and her inability to cry in Blue). Truly free this time, Llewynn goes out at the back of the bar to meet with the same strange man that beat him up the previous time. He beats him up again, and the same dialogue plays out. What has changed? The world certainly hasn’t. But our protagonist has changed a bit, not too much though. He’s still an angry, drunk hellraiser. But a free one this time around. Everything’s the same, but a little different all the same. Inside Llewynn Davis is a beautiful, poignant masterpiece.

Blood Simple HR

Raising Arizona HR

Miller’s Crossing HR

Barton Fink MS

The Hudsucker Proxy R

Fargo MP

The Big Lebowski MS

O Brother, Where Art Thou HR

The Man Who Wasn’t There R

Intolerable Cruelty —

No Country For Old Men MP

Burn After Reading R

A Serious Man MS

True Grit HR

Inside Llewyn Davis MP

Hail, Caesar —

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs R

Starting a Coen Brothers Study, was going to do Spielberg next but realized I have watched a number of his films in the past year, still planning on watching some more in the next few months but I have not seen any Coen Brother’s movie other than Burn After Reading for a while. Plus I rewatched some of the Fargo TV Series and it just got me in the mood for some Coen Brothers.

Miller’s Crossing (1990)

Notes:

Starts with extreme close up on drinking glass being filled with ice cubes and liquor, probably whiskey, and a zoom out
Albert Finney as Irish mob boss Leo and Gabriel Byrne as his right-hand man Tom Reagan
Leo speaking with Italian mobster Johnny Caspar played by Jon Polito
6:55 camera floats during opening credits through a woods area with camera pointed to sky
10 min Marcia Gay Harden makes 1st appearance as Verna, a femme fatale type sleeping with Leo and Tom
11:55 Leo enters Tom’s minimalist apartment
15:05 its all ego’s with these guys
19 min Leo’s office serves as important
21:56 shallow focus with Tom in foreground order throwing down shots of whiskey
25:05 muted colors, slight green tint
25:10 slow zoom in on Tom answering phone and upon call ending we discover John Turturro as Bernie, who happens to be Verna’s brother
28:24 large warehouse with green tables, green mugs, and painted walls
31:40 Tom isolated in warehouse
33:44 police raid of warehouse
35:16 this is my first viewing, I can’t help but feel like Verna is going to end up getting either Tom or Leo killed, maybe both
39:18 two hitman walk into Leo residence with matching guns; tracking shot captures the knees on down of the hit men while cross cutting Leo lying in bed smoking a cigar and listening to Danny Boy by Frank Patterson
40:44 frame within frame as Leo shoots at hitman in window while backpedaling after escape from house
42:16 tracking shot with camera moving backward and then back to Leo’s office
46:56 bright green lamp lights
48 min shortly after leaving Leo’s office and confessing about seeing Verna Leo attacks and beats up Tom in front of crowd of people
59:52 Tom walks Bernie to middle of woods but spares him for a reason I am not sure
1:01:45 dissolve edit back to hitmen/muscle cracking jokes with car on side of road deep into the woods with a long and very narrow road, the frame filled to brim with trees almost symmetrically with road down the middle
1:11:55 Bernie returns
1:14:21 low angle shot of Bernie
1:19:00 back to woods area with Tom being the one seemingly on the verge of death but escapes it like Bernie earlier, only for very different reasons
1:22:08 silhouette image of Tom entering apartment, impressive given that this scene is set during the day
1:24:36 after well build up tension we finally have a shootout scene
1:25:37 camera drops back showing the office is much larger than it initially would seem from the audience perspective
1:34:14 great rapid, and abrupt zooms, repeated again at 1:36:03 and 1:36:46
1:39:25 Verna walks away from Tom with back to the camera during rainstorm
1:45:33 Tom killing Bernie is set up so perfectly from the scene in the woods where he spares Bernie
1:46:18 great shot of Tom at a distance making phone call with his back turned to camera in a large empty office

Thoughts:

The Coen Brothers go with Prohibition Era gangster film focusing on Irish Mob and Mafia, I saw it once a while ago and thought it was solid but not amazing; I was wrong this is a MP

Production design is so impressive, brown, and green are important colors here, frequent in mise-en-scene including some of best shots in film that take place out in the woods. The interiors of the buildings, bars, offices, are also very impressive with green and brown worked into with intricate level of detail and frequent use of symmetry in the interiors

Coen Brother’s use angles effectively to manipulate space in offices, hallways, etc. similar to Polanski in Apartment Trilogy. Great low angle shots in several scenes including the woods scenes. The scene where Leo is nearly killed by the assassins

Gabriel Byrne gives the best performance in my opinion; Albert Finney is great as well particularly when it is just the 2 of them. I like comparing the scenes when it is just Tom and Leo with no one else around, to scenes either just before or after as it becomes clear that Leo can actually come across as somewhat emotionally vulnerable. Of course there is no way Leo would let anyone else see him in this light, so he puts on a good tough guy show in front of anyone else

While there is still plenty of violence, these characters are not quite as ruthless as they initially appear. I actually like this as so many mob films have characters that are cartoonishly evil and ruthless as opposed to actual full fleshed out people.

Coen Brother’s are great world creators, this film feels so contained almost like every character pretty much knows each other. The writing is sharp and witty but in a way without being distracting

Every scene has purpose, lean even at 2 hours

The film returns to a few of the same locations throughout the film but the 2 spots that really stand out are Leo’s office with the bar in the back and deep into the woods. There are a number of repeated shots throughout the film

Verdict: MP

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Notes:

Starts with pan through open fields to a prison chain gang in stripped white and black uniforms working in fields
2:33 low camera shot of same chain gang from a distance with 3 members making escape shown while alternating between this and films opening credits, these 3 characters played by John Turturro, George Clooney, and Tim Blake Nelson
7 min close ups on faces of 3 escaped convicts
8:20 slow zoom out as Handcar moves along with convicts
8:34 dissolve edit leading to 3 convicts with desaturated colors
11:15 country music in background
14:42 3 convicts and pig enter car driven by kid after hideout set on fire with police surrounding convicts who make their escape
18:06 group of singing people dressed in all white making their way to body of water
20:35 close up on convicts inside car driving toward camera
21:16 high angle shot on literal crossroads with surrounding fields resembling shots from other Coen Brothers films on open roads, train tracks, etc.
22 min convicts pick up a hitchhiker named Tommy Johnson
25 min turns out convicts and Tommy have some musical talent
25:39 nice composition using reflection through glass and another at 25:57 only from other side
30:46 great composition with 3 convicts in foreground and men searching for them in background setting barn on fire
34:50 convicts get ride with bank robber named George Nelson
40 min montage of the 3 convicts moving through the country set to The Three Sirens – ”Go to Sleep Little Baby”
52 min painterly image with clear blue sky taking up ¾ of frame
53:24 John Goodman’s Big Dan Teague betrays gang for the reward money, consistent in Universe of Coen Brothers films where characters are often out for themselves
54:53 iris wipe to Turturro’s character being tortured by law enforcement
56:57 dissolve edits to daytime with other 2 convicts in back of pickup truck
58:08 framed filled to brim with audience listening to country music at campaigning event for Homer Stokes
1:04:00 Clooney bare knuckle boxing is a sight I never thought that I’d see
1:05:41 amazing image with convicts as silhouette in movie theatre with hazy light upon door opening
1:07:04 Turturro character, Pete, happens to be in same theatre as chain gang brought into theater
1:09:50 Pete back with the other 2 convicts
1:13:24 slow zoom in on convicts who discover that they have stumbled upon a KKK meeting
1:18:12 Big Dan turns out to be KKK member and tries to stop the 3 convicts who are themselves trying to free Tommy from being murdered
1:19:40 great blocking and zoom in on 4 faces, the 3 convicts plus Tommy
1:22:50 convicts impersonate musicians
1:30:30 an ambitious politician publicly absolves convicts who are hit of the church
1:33:27 medium shot of 3 convicts and Tommy standing next to each other
1:35:36 blues music as convicts about to be hanged as Sheriff does not care that they were pardoned
1:36:56 camera panning up to overhead shot as Clooney’s character prays to Lord as they are about to be hanged
1:38:00 their wish comes true in the way of a flood saving them from death, set to blues music

Thoughts:

The Coen Brothers take on Depression Era road film with impressive results with 107 min that really just fly by as the trio, which later becomes a quartet, moves along as they find themselves in increasingly dire circumstances

Performances are solid as usual although there is not any real standout performances in this film compared to some of the best performances from previous Coen Brothers films I’ve watched so far into the study. If forced to pick George Clooney would be my pick for best performance, I have to admit I’ve questioned Clooney’s skills in the past but over time have come to appreciate his abilities even if I don’t think he has a lot of range

Despite the subject matter the film is lighter in tone than the other 6 Coen Brothers films so far in this study other than The Big Lebowski. This is a comedy drama that is weighted more toward comedy. Speaking of which there are few (if any) auteurs who blend comedy and drama as seamlessly as The Coen Brothers. I suppose you could make a case for Bong Joon-ho, but I think he shifts mood more than blends if that makes any sense

Great soundtrack, I love blues music and have come to enjoy folk music and some country music although still not my favorite music genre

There are shots of open fields and train tracks similar to shots of open highways in other Coen Brothers films which is fitting given the Coen Brothers themes of fate and chance, there are scenes where there are literal crossroads

I’ve come to notice the Coen Brothers like those Welles style low angle shots, here we see it used in scene where Goodman’s character betrays the convicts, they also like to use overhead shots and zooms

Verdict: HR/MS

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Notes:

Opening montage consists of shots of West Texas, the last film in the study, The Man Who Wasn’t There, began with narration from Billy Bob Thornton who has a great narration voice, this one starts with narration from Tommy Lee Jones who somehow has an even better narration voice
3 min Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh strangling Deputy to death in police station, shaky camera captures out what starts as out of control struggle then goes to an overhead shot focusing on Anton’s menacing face at 3:20 as Anton gains upper hand
4:49 close up on Anton’s face before murdering innocent man
5:20 close up on Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss as he hunts
8:20 camera drops to low position as Moss carefully walks through a brutal crime scene resulting from a botched drug deal
13:13 a bag full of cash, classic sign of a Coen Brothers film
13:36 painterly image with some foreshadowing with Moss walking toward his pickup truck carrying bag of drug money as sky indicates a storm coming along with sound of thunder
14 min Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss
19:44 twist of standard chase scene by having Moss swimming away in River from vicious Pit Bull
21:07 Anton reacts to harmless small talk question from Gas Station Clerk with increasing menace, yet at the end of it at 25 min it is clear that this is nothing more than just sadistic amusement for Anton
27:44 POV shot of Anton casually murdering 2 men hired to get the stolen drug money
32:15 camera positioned low
33:18 interesting reflection shot with frame in frame
34 min this is first time Anton spares someone also he might have if not sound indicating someone else there, fate is of course a reoccurring theme with Coen Brothers
36:51 same shot from 33:18 only with Bell instead of Anton
42:50 surveillance camera angle of Moss at store
46:55 Anton looking at same motel room map that Moss was a few minutes before
49:17 tracking shot of Anton with in dimly lit motel
51:10 low angle shot of eerily calm Anton sitting on hotel bed with half of his face covered by shadow and with man he murdered in background on left side of frame
53 min dissolve edit from dark interior of vehicle at night to brightly lit elevator of corporate building which Woody Harrelson’s bounty hunter character, Carson, meeting the corporate suit financing drug deal, huge window in office strikes me as an example of “hiding in plain sight”
56:06 hallway shot resembling the one in Barton Fink
57:49 slow zoom in on Moss face upon finding tracking device inside money bag
1:09:09 beautiful silhouette shot after Moss wakes up to a mariachi group
1:10:04 great low angle close up shot of Anton who is taking up most of frame
1:15:00 camera pans up to Carson in hospital holding flowers sitting over Moss’s bed
1:21:15 Anton walks into far right side of frame without any changes in camera angle or any cuts, thus sneaking up on us (audience) in the same way he sneaks up on Carson who is walking up steps inside the Hotel
1:23:08 Anton philosophizing to Carson before killing him, Woody Harrelson’s acting in the hotel scene is tremendous, right after Anton laughs off his futile offer “an ATM” with a menacing smile, his face just drops and he knows this is the end for him

1:30:48 terrified money launderer in background with Anton in foreground of the frame
1:36:00 Moss killed off screen
1:38:33 Bell and local cop as silhouette images speaking of Anton as a “ghost”
1:40:27 Anton hiding with half face visible from light
1:42:44 Bell visiting old friend about state of world
1:48:42 Anton waiting in house for Carla Jean, shot reverse shot with the shots of Carla Jean closer to the camera and in brighter frames than Anton who is further back and darker frames
1:51:30 classic Coen Brothers with impossible to predict situation, fate
1:56:00 film ends with conversation between recently retired Bell and his wife

Thoughts:

I caught this in theatres back in 2007 with my buddy who was big into film, we both walked out blown away, I legitimately thought Anton Chigurh was the greatest movie villain of all time and while I would temper that claim somewhat, I think it is undeniable that Anton Chigurh is certainly one of the all-time great movie villains

The Cast in absolutely loaded, I would rank the top 5 performances as follows:
# 1 Javier Bardem
# 2 Tommy Lee Jones
# 3 Woody Harrelson
# 4 Kelly Macdonald
# 5 Josh Brolin

Brolin at #5 might seem like a slight his way but that has more to do with the performances of the 4 above including Kelly Macdonald whose performance understandably gets overlooked due to her character’s limited screen time but that final scene with Javier Bardem is done so perfectly. Plus Brolin is kind of playing the straight man so to speak while Bardem and Harrelson get the more colorful characters to play

The Gas Station Scene is one of best and most suspenseful in any film, as you identify the poor attendant whose seemingly harmless question almost results in a brutal death, the fact that Anton does not kill every single character actually makes him more scary because at least there is suspense

Tommy Lee Jones monologues prove he has one of the greatest narration voices, I could listen to him speak all day

Initially I actually preferred this film over There Will Blood (2007) a position I have certainly changed but that is due mainly to the greatness of There Will Be Blood (my # 5 all time) than any shortcomings with No Country which is pretty much a perfect film. It actually does not have the artistic highs of There Will Be Blood and not as many stunning visuals but like I said it’s a near perfect film and I don’t think there is anything I would change

Verdict: MP

True Grit (2010)

Notes:

Starts with narration from Mattie Ross on her fathers murder by Tom Chaney
2:02 beautiful painterly image, impressive lighting
2:25 silhouette image of woman riding horse away from camera with blue background
2:35 a great dissolve edit
4:38 a public hanging with large crowd certainly screams that you are watching a Western
14:50 camera pans in courtroom with hazy light creating beautiful shot, Coen Brothers are great at this with similar shots in Barton Fink (1991) and The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
25:10 Matt Damon makes his entrance as LaBoeuf
27 min low angle shot of LaBoeuf trying to intimidate Mattie followed by close up on her face
32:50 narration through letters again
38 min close up on LaBoeuf sitting at fire along with Mattie and Rooster; camera shows close ups of each of these characters one at a time as they speak while taking up most of frame creating an intimacy necessary for bonding
47:01 great composition with layout of trees as Mattie is small dot on the frame as she climbs tree to verify if a man hanging from a high up tree branch is the man they are looking for
48:45 ground as ceiling shot
49:11 dissolve edit used to transition to scene with snow light fall and darker frame
55 min similar to around 38 min mark we have close ups usually showing one character at a time with a few characters in close proximity only here the atmosphere in more tense and they are in enclosed space inside small cabin
1:02:36 high angle shot from Mattie and Rooster POV from foreground of the frame, this leads to a shootout a few min later after tense build up
1:06:18 beautiful nighttime shots as mild but peaceful snowfall continues
1:08:02 green and brown in mise en scene similar to Miller’s Crossing
1:09:21 Rooster showing off gun skills
1:10:13 very low angle shot of Rooster giving him a brief mythical image as his knees are approximately at bottom of frame and head near the top of the frame
1:11:27 long shot with Mattie, Rooster, and LaBoeuf as silhouette images walking toward camera
1:11:51 a couple brilliant dissolve edits as the trio continues the trek
1:19:18 Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney, Mattie and Chaney staring at each other across the river
1:21:46 great frame using trees along riverbank
1:22:06 Tarantino trunk shot angle from Mattie POV
1:25:52 binocular deep focus shot
1:30:00 classic Western showdown
1:31:50 sniper shot lands
1:32:50 POV shot from Mattie looking up after falling into snake hole
1:36:57 dissolve edits as Mattie and Rooster get out of trouble
1:41:25 silhouette image of Mattie 25 years later, now with one arm, and the final minutes are essentially an epilogue
1:43:25 beautiful long shot of Mattie on a hill after burial of Rooster

Thoughts:

In every Director Study there is always one film that is “the hidden gem” basically a film that was great that I did not really expect that much from, I have a few films to go but so far this is my “hidden gem”. When looking through the filmography at start of study I barely gave any through toward True Grit, yet I think this was so well done for several reasons:

The performances are uniformly great, I will need to see the original again to say for sure as I have only seen in once and it was 13 years ago, but I think I preferred Jeff Bridge’s performance to John Wayne’s
I preferred the Mattie in this to the original 1969 version as that Mattie just did not resemble a kid in anyway, this version’s Mattie still talks tough and is wise beyond her years but comes across as more vulnerable and overall just feels like a more fleshed out character

This is one of the Coen Brothers most beautiful films which is not necessarily their strong suit but this has a number of painterly shots and gorgeous silhouettes

The screenplay is great as always, no wasted scenes, every character serves a purpose and suspense builds over the course of their journey. I have said before I always love these types of journey films where a group of characters is setting out for some specific purpose.

The last 20 min was really powerful on an emotional level, the characters were fleshed out rather than archetypes, and the character interactions build a powerful bond that pays off later

In the last month or so I have watched The Big Lebowski, Hell or Highwater, and Tucker: The Man and His Dream and have come to believe Jeff Bridges is a great actor, not that I didn’t like him previously I just did not fully realize he great he was. Rooster is a complex character

Verdict: MS

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Notes:
Starts inside confession booth with Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) face half visible
2:55 narration as Eddie walks through stormy night
4:30 nice overhead shot of marching army dressed as soldier in ancient Rome
5:30 aspect ratio changes as movie with movie is watched by Eddie in theatre
9:42 aspect ratio changes again going from movie in movie to the actual film
19:35 slow zoom in set to opera music with synchronized swimmers
20:24 Scarlett Johansson makes her intro into film
24:40 great composition and character blocking
30:20 nice overhead long shot of water
33:34 great use of red lighting in shot inside Asian restaurant
39 min Clooney stumbling into Communist Meeting
42:22 nice overhead shot, perfect symmetry
51 min great use of color with green painted “Swingin’ Dinghy” bar
1:04:40 black and white TV in movie but aspect ratio remains constant
1:06:30 quick zoom in as Eddie returns to same Asian Restaurant from, earlier in film
1:11:01 nice dissolve edit from close up on Eddie to shot of water
1:21:36 series of beautiful dissolve edits leading to one of the films best shots at 1:22:02 of Eddie walking through set shown with an overhead shot
1:22:38 great use of shadow and silhouette
1:26:02 great night shot of submarine in foreground and light separating shot with perfect symmetry
1:38:55 Eddie back in confessional booth

Thoughts:

I had some trouble getting into this narrative, it sounds great on paper, but I found it difficult to care about any of the characters

I did not laugh much and while that might not be a legitimate criticism to some, this is rare for Coen Brothers film although Clooney stumbling into the Communist Meeting was humorous

That said it certainly at some great shots and I liked the changing aspect ratios to indicate a movie in a movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) did this several times

I think Wes Anderson would have been an ideal director for this narrative mainly due to the undeniable similarities to The Grand Budapest Hotel; much overlapping as far as cast goes, saturated colors, changing aspect ratios, narration, time period (some of) the story is set, and perhaps a few other similarities. However, Grand Budapest is a clear MP while this is far from it

I like all of Clooney’s previous collaborations with Coen Brothers but this one falls a little flat

Despite my criticisms there are some impressive shots to give a R but this is a weaker Coen Brothers

Verdict: R

Final Ranking and Grades:

Study Summary:

There are so many great auteurs that I have spend significant time watching and reading about over the past couple of years that it can be easy to forget how great some of the other directors are and admittingly there is definitely a degree of recently bias; all of this leading to me being shocked by this study. I mean I’ve always liked and admired the Cohen Brothers work but even, so I was surprised by just how great their filmography truly is.

I imagine being in a Coen Brothers film is a lot of fun, they are top level auteurs but man they get ridiculous casts, only A Serious Man (2009) had a cast of mostly lesser-known actors, but I think that was on purpose

Regarding the “Desert Island” concept, the Cohen Brothers have to be in the top 3 or 4 best candidates
I think there are 4 major elements to consider in Desert Island Scenario:
1. Sheer quantity of watchable films
2. Versatility/Variety – many forms of this in terms of genre, tone, subject
matter, pacing, cinematography, etc.
3. Rewatchability
4. Quality of their top tier films

# 1 Almost all of the films I watched in this study were at least HR or better and the majority were MS

# 2 Just about all their films can be consider drama/comedies and if you drew out a line representing a spectrum then their films would be quite spread out. They are a little different from say Park Chan-wook or Bong Joon-ho as those 2 are masters of shifting a films tone/mood almost without you noticing it. The Coen Brothers on the other hand don’t shift tones so much as they blend them if that makes any sense. Their filmography consists of Westerns, Film Noir, Gangster, psychological thriller, and musical dramas

# 3 While they are amazing directors you could argue they are even better writers; arguing they are the greatest directors of all time would be going overboard while calling them the greatest screenwriters would not be. The narratives of their films are lean, each scene with a purpose and you will rarely see long stretches of time where the narrative seems to grind to a halt, this along with their humor and great characters makes their films extremely rewatchable

# 4 They don’t have a film of the quality of say The Godfather, 2001, or Aguirre to name a few but Fargo is arguably a top 100 film

They have a consistent world view throughout their filmography and explore similar themes of fate, the human condition, existentialism, etc.

Final Rankings

MP

Fargo (1996)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)

MS
Barton Fink (1991)
A Serious Man (2009)
Blood Simple (1984)

HR/MS
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

R/HR
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Raising Arizona (1987)

R
Hail, Caesar! (2016)