My Favourite Coen Brothers Film

The Coen Brothers, Joel (29/11/1954) and Ethan (21/09/1957) were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, where they both attended Saint Louis ParkHigh School and Simon’s Rock of Bard College. They went their separate ways when heading to University, with Joel going to the Institute of Film and TV in New York and Ethan studying Philosophy at Princeton. The two brothers began working together writing screen plays, but Joels first cinematic work of note was as assistant editor on Sam Raimi’s 1983 film, The Evil Dead. In 1984 Joel and Ethan had their first release with Blood Simple, a film that they wrote and edited together with Joel taking the directing credit and Ethan being named as producer. This set the trend for the division of labour in much of the rest of their work over the years. Or at least that is how it was credited, in reality they probably both contributed to the directing and producing roles. Up to now they have won 53 awards for their body of work, including 4 Oscars for No Country for Old Men (3) and Fargo(1). Their latest film, A Serious Man had a limited release on October 2^nd, 2009.

Their films tend to pay homage to genre films such as horror, noir and screwball comedies without themselves sticking to one set path. For example, The Big Lebowski has elements of noir, screwball comedy, classic westerns and detective movies all melded together in the recent past, but with many nods to the 50s and 60s. The period of their films tends to be painstakingly depicted with the dialogue, scenery, costumes and music all tying together to leave the viewer immersed in the moment. For me the two recurring themes in most Coen Brothers films are money, either striving for it, getting mixed up with it, or losing it, and the complex plots that turn simple stories into labyrinthine adventures. The characters themselves tend to be fairly ordinary people that find themselves in extraordinary situations. I think the combination of the simple core story and everyday characters make the films believable so that when the plot twists and character quirks appear the viewer is already sucked into the world of the film and gets carried along for the ride.

My favourite of all the Coen Brothers films has to be The Big Lebowski. It was the first film of theirs that I saw and it is a film that has so many nuances and intricacies in the plot and dialogue that you laugh at something different each time you watch it. The film follows a character called “The Dude”, played by Jeff Bridges, who is a sloth-like stoner who gets mixed up in an abduction, through, amongst other things, a case of mistaken identity. In the opening of the film the main concern for “The Dude” is to get compensation for his urine-soaked rug that came to harm when he was confused for another, richer, Jeff Lebowski. The rug is of course important because “The rug tied the room together”, but as he tracks down the real Jeff Lebowski, he becomes entwined in the faked abduction of the rich Lebowskis wife. Throughout the film “The Dude” and his friend Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) try their best to sort out this mix-up, but find themselves in ever more peculiar and dangerous situations. Before the film is up, many white Russians are drunk, a smattering of drugs are taken, numerous people are threatened, various guns are fired, and all with the back drop of Walter and “The Dudes” love of bowling. No doubt from that description you are thoroughly bemused and confused and wondering how I could possibly claim the basic story in most Coen Brothers films is a simple one? Well, you will just have to find out for yourselves by watching some Coen Brothers movies. You won’t be disappointed.

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If you enjoyed this hub have a read of my other movie hub.