I’m sure that I have made numerous references before about my affinity for the Coen Brothers‘ film work. When I was younger, I would tear through their catalog and grab anything that I could get my hands on. Sometimes, I would even get my hands on something and it would find its way into one of my over-sized pockets. I loved everything that the duo would put out.  Their strengths have always been their storylines and character development; the things that really make for a quality film and that mainstream Hollywood have made less and less of a priority. The CGI effects and explosions have become like visual/action porn. “Fuck the story, let’s remove any real substance and just give them something mind numbing to get off too!”

The only Coen film that never really moved me was Barton Fink, a film about writers block that made me feel like I had it, but I still appreciated their left-field approach with the project.  Guessing the popularity of an upcoming release from the brothers, was parallel to throwing a dart with your eyes closed.  Maybe it would hit.  Probably, it wouldn’t.  I saw Raising Arizona [1987] in the theater, but the next 3 films,  Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, and Hudsucker Proxy, I had to seek out and/or rent later.  Hudsucker did “all right” but, not until the release of Fargo in 1996, did the auteurs really have much of a fanbase.  They followed Fargo up with The Big Lebowski, which at the time wasn’t very successful, and then onto O’ Brother Where Art Thou, which was championed for it’s soundtrack and casting of George Clooney.  Most people never saw their next film, The Man Who Wasn’t There, but I actually own it.  They had stumbled into a weird alternating pattern, where they would create a film that was widely popular and then make one that fell abandoned to the wayside.  I believe that their latest film, A serious Man, will most likely fall into the category of the latter.   Personally, I welcome it. Read the rest of this entry →