Director Spotlight: The Coen Brothers
Join us as we traverse the weird and wonderful Coen universe
Joel and Ethan Coen are responsible for some of the most original movies of the last 35 years. Since their debut with Blood Simple in 1984 (recommended by Do You Like Apples here), the idiosyncratic brothers have made cult classics (The Big Lebowski), Oscar winners (No Country for Old Men and Fargo), and beloved period pieces (O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Miller’s Crossing). Their work with A-list movie stars has produced some of those performers’ absolute best work, such as Jeff Bridges in Lebowski, Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona, and Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis. Even the Coens’ worst films (which there are few) are interesting enough and possess their signature stamp.
Fortunately, a bunch of their movies are streaming right now, so we decided it was a good time to introduce a new series called Director Spotlight, where we recommend a few films from the same director that are currently on Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.
Billy recommends…
Inside Llewyn Davis (streaming on Amazon Prime)
There comes a time every five years where Hollywood forces an actor into your face and wants that actor to be one of the faces of Hollywood. Examples of Sam Worthington and Taylor Kitsch come to mind where they were supposed to be the next big star, but it just does not work out. Oscar Isaac has been going through that the past 5 or so years, but in this instance, he is the star-studded actor that we deserve, but not the one we need……. or something. I really want Oscar Isaac to be Batman, OK!?
Let’s get back on track. The Coen brothers, directors of Inside Llewyn Davis, have a great eye for talented actors. There are many instances where they give an actor an opportunity way before audiences realize how talented an actor is. Choosing Oscar Isaac is their magnum opus example. Isaac gives a masterfully understated performance that does not get talked about enough because of the Coen brothers’ reputation.
There is no doubt that the Coens are master directors. Every single frame is beautifully staged and the thematic qualities of this small film make it feel large. Putting all that pressure on to the title character is a tough task to carry out, but Isaac was given the opportunity to carry that and he did wonderfully. Plus, a cameo from Justin Timberlake does not hurt.
Inside Llewyn Davis will go by quickly and feel inconsequential upon first viewing. You will go to bed and not think much of it right away. Then the next day you will notice your foot tapping to a mysterious beat and not know why. Heavy themes will come back and get you thinking. And all the amazing performances, masterful direction, and original soundtrack will put a smile on your face. Then naturally you will come back for more. Those feelings are something that only the best cinema can give you and Inside Llewyn Davis is one of the best.
No Country for Old Men (streaming on Netflix)
Most movies need background for their characters in order to connect with the story properly. The Coen brothers boldly choose to not give us any background on this character besides his name and profession as a hitman. He is essentially there to be a personification of pure evil. And that is where Javier Bardem comes in.
The Coen brothers sought to cast someone “who could have come from Mars” and to them Javier Bardem fit that mold perfectly. Bardem described himself as someone that can’t drive, speaks bad English, and hates violence. It almost took someone who was absent of evil to fully encapsulate the mysterious evil of this character.
This constant anticipation of evil looming in the background gives stakes to all characters involved and I think that is why people, including myself, love this movie so much. Tommy Lee Jones, who plays Ed Tom Bell, has the most sympathetic story of them all. He is the classic quiet American man who is trying to adjust to a modern society that is seemingly succumbing to greed more often and that greed is creating more violence. The sheer terror of these situations causes Bell, who is leading the investigation of these crimes, to question the morals and ethics he holds dear. Almost as if he is starting to believe he is the weird one now.
No Country for Old Men is brilliantly made and a perfect example of how to create tension throughout a whole film. Rich and complicated protagonists lives are uprooted by a seemingly shallow, but nonetheless terrifying, personification of evil. That is a story that we can all gravitate towards, which is why this is such an easy recommendation. You won’t regret watching this one.
Drew recommends…
Fargo (streaming on Amazon Prime)
The first thing we see at the beginning of Fargo is a title card that reads, “This is a true story.” Fargo is not, in fact, a true story, but Joel and Ethan Coen felt their film would play better if audiences thought they were seeing something that had really happened. It’s with this strange lie that we are introduced to one of the Coens’ very best films.
It stars Frances McDormand as pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson, an instantly iconic role that earned her an Oscar, and William H. Macy (he of the recent college admissions scandal) as Jerry Lundegaard, an aw-shucks car salesman that hires two criminals to kidnap his wife. No character better inhabits the type of “Minnesota Nice” that the Coens are skewering in Fargo. Underneath the frozen smiles and the “Oh ya, you betcha” dialogue is a sordid and unsavory underbelly.
As Marge investigates the trail of murder and mayhem that Jerry’s kidnapping plot kicks off, we begin to see that McDormand’s Marge is one of the truly good and honorable characters in the entire Coen filmography. You can tell they love Marge dearly (Joel Coen has been married to McDormand since 1984). The Coens are often criticized as cynical and nihilistic, but Marge’s character begs to differ. She and her husband Norm are wholesome, compassionate, everyday people. As incomprehensible violence and greed strikes her little Minnesota town, Marge stares it down and does everything she can to keep this evil at the door. This is a theme that Fargo, the spectacular TV series inspired by the film, has come back to time and again in its three seasons so far.
Released in 1996, Fargo is when the Coens officially put their entire skill set together. Sure, they had made great films before this, but this is where everything clicked, when their brand of dark humor and irony-laden drama meshed perfectly to create a brilliant and award-winning classic. You could no longer deny that they had arrived as major filmmakers.
A Serious Man (streaming on Netflix)
A Serious Man is not one of the Coens’ most famous works, but it’s probably their most personal. The story follows Larry Gopnik, a Jewish physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) in 1960s Minnesota whose life is falling apart. His wife is leaving him for another man, his tenure position at the university is in jeopardy, and his kids and his brother are a constant burden. Larry seeks an answer for his misfortune from three different rabbis, causing him to question his faith and his purpose.
Joel and Ethan Coen grew up in Minnesota inside a Jewish home with two parents that taught at universities. At the very least, they clearly used their childhood as a starting point for a story that explored a character struggling to find meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. A Serious Man certainly feels like a summation of the Coen brothers’ worldview. Terrible things happen to main characters in just about every single one of their films, but they treat Larry like Job from the Old Testament. It just can’t get much worse for him -- and then it does.
Stuhlbarg is brilliant as Larry. He’s an actor that has thrived on the margins of good movies over the years (Call Me by Your Name, Arrival, Lincoln), but here is allowed to flex his lead actor muscles in impressive fashion. There is solid acting elsewhere in A Serious Man, but it’s Stuhlbarg’s show.
Is A Serious Man supposed to be funny, dramatic, ironic, or all three at once? Your guess is as good as mine. This is a cryptic and inscrutable movie, but I think that may be the point. The Coens seem to believe that we live in a mysterious, perplexing, and, ultimately, unknowable universe, so they made a movie that weaves this message in with their personal lives, giving us one of their best, albeit most opaque, efforts.
Top 3 Coen Brothers Movies
Billy:
Inside Llewyn Davis
Fargo
No Country for Old Men
Drew:
No Country for Old Men
Miller’s Crossing
A Serious Man
Streaming TV Corner
The Office Episode of the Week
Billy: “The Search” (Season 7, Episode 14)
I watched this episode last night to calm me down after an amazing Stanley Cup Final game. I don’t know if it was the circumstance or not, but this episode is incredible. Jim has to ditch Michael at a gas station to tend to his daughter. A group of Dunder Mifflin employees that includes Michael’s love, Holly, search for him all throughout Scranton. We slowly see that Holly can predict Michael’s every move despite minimal clues and this creates clarity to their relationship. We realize that they are perfect for each other and sadly, now that we can look back on it, this is the ending of Michael’s and Steve Carell’s journey in Scranton/on The Office.
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