coencoen

The Coen Brothers

"Burn After Reading," the most recent in a long string of successful films, is fully in the tradition of the Coen Brothers ability to mate comedy and crime into one package. Before going into details on this film it might be worth it to review some of their top films of the past. I'll make this a five film listing ending with "Burn After Reading." These are not necessarily in the same order as that contained in the Internet Movie Data Base ratings of their work since my taste runs toward their more humorous films rather than the primarily dramatic productions. Three of my choices are ranked among the top five by the contributors to IMDB ratings, and my number one choice is the same as theirs. Here is my list plus short commentaries on the individual films.

1. Fargo - This criminal film is filled with some truly outstanding humorous moments. My two favorites in the latter category include Fargo's detective Marge Gunderson played my Joel Coen's wife Francis McDormand querying a couple of prostitutes about their customers who are her suspects. She asks if they had any identifiable physical characteristics where in one of the prostitutes notes that the one she slept with was funny looking and was not circumcised. Marge notes the comment and asks "Was he funny looking apart from that." A second memorable bit of humor is late in the film where a police officer is interviewing a man busy working outside his house. It's icy and snow covered and about as dismal a day as you can imagine. When the officer goes to leave the gentleman comments, after looking up at the leaden sky, "It looks like it's going to turn to cold."

Francis McDormand won an award as best actress, and film was voted best film of the year by the Academy. Her use of a regional accent with emphasis on the large presence of Scandinavians in this area was a feature of her performance. She managed to keep her calm demeanor when discussing events of the murder crimes which including the feeding of a body into a wood chipper. That's pretty world class and ranks almost as high as being in a chain gang for shear horrer.

2. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. This was a very funny film about three escapees from a good old southern chain gang. I have never had a lot of affection for chain gangs one of the creative forms of handling prisoners by penal authorities in the deep south. Paul Muni made a most memorable performance as an escapee from a chain gang in the Academy Award Nominated film "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang." Muni was also nominated for the film as best actor. This was not a humorous film in the least and closed very dramatically with Muni fading into the shadows and responding to the query of how he lives by responding, "I steal." It was a memorable ending.

Paul Newman also played a chain gang victim in "Cool Hand Luke." Though this film had some humorous moments it dealt primarily with the cruelty faced when trapped in a Chain Gang. And Joel McCrae illustrated a similar experience with his performance as 'Sully' Sullivan in the Preston Sturges film "Sullivan's Travels." Sullivan was scheduled to direct "Ants in your Pants, 1940," but he wanted to work on a more significant story. His travails in "Sullivan's Travels" led to his being incarcerated in a chain gang. This brings us to "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou" which was the film that film director Sully Sullivan (McCrae) wanted to make rather than another comedy. In this film the chain gang is treated humorously. Though there is no despicable cruelty of the type shown in than the Muni and Newman films, it did as in "Sullivan's Travels" illustrate the indignity that can occur in life.

"Oh, Brother" opens with three convicts escaping from a Chain Gang. These are listed in the films advertising as DUMB (George Clooney), DUMBER (John Turturro) and DUMBEST (Tim Blake Nelson). Then follows a whole pile of funny episodes with Clooney playing the lead. His crime was practicing law without a license. The Coen Brothers used Homer's Ulysses as a structure to shoot against. Most notably are the three Sirens the convicts discover next to a river who serenade them with lovely singing and ardent affection. There is some great country boy singing, mostly by the three principles, an episode with Baby Face Nelson, and other episodes as wild as you can imagine. Overall this film is really world class.

3. The Big Lebowski. The Coen Brothers styled this picture after the work of Raymond Chandler. They had worked in a similar framework in "Miller's Crossing," the dark film starring Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne with an attempt to do a crime in the mode typical of Dashiel Hammett. The resemblance of "The Big Lebowski" to Raymond Chandler is most notable in the film "The Big Sleep," a starring vehicle for Humphrey Bogart as the Chandler private eye, Phillip Marlowe. Like with "The Big Sleep" the "Big Lebowski," if anything is confusing. "The Big Sleep" was so confusing to Hawks and Humphrey Bogart who played Marlowe that Hawks queried Chandler as to who killed the chauffeur and received the ambiguous reply of, "I don't know."

In the "Big Lebowski" there is a collection of confusion. First there are two Lebowski's, the actual Big Lebowski, Jeffrey Lebowski, played by David Huddleston who is a handicapped older man stuck to using a wheel chair. In addition there is another Jeffrey Lebowski who is played by Jeff Bridges and who prefers to go by the name of "The Dude." The real Big Lebowski has a young wife who has rung up tremendous debts. Some collectors agents mix up the two Lebowski and go after the Dude. They do this by coming into his house, sticking him head first into a toilet thereby nearly drowning him. In addition one member of the party urinates on The Dudes Persian Rug. which really infuriates him. To attempt to explain the picture beyond that is rather difficult to say the least. The cast includes The Dude's two bowling buddies, played by John Goodman and Steve Buscime and The Big Lebowski's daughter played by Julianne Moore whose hobby is to paint in the drip style while being propelled stark naked below the ceiling of the Lebowski mansion, dripping paint from her brush and while being propelled. John Turturro is also instantly memorable as a foul mouthed bowler who calls himself "The Jesus."

It's my contention that you cannot figure out the film with a single viewing, so good luck.

4. The Hudsucker Proxy is another delightful film in the Coen Brothers zany environment. It stars Tim Robbins as a young college grad, a world class smoe from Muncie, Indiana, who gets a job at Hudsucker Industries in the mail room. Paul Newman is the Executive Vice President of this firm, whose president, Charles Durning, will soon be leaving the company and life in general with a sleep from the 40th floor tower at the corporate headquarters. These persons are called Norville Barnes, Sydney J. Mussburger, and Waring Hudsucker respectively. Also, very important to the cast and the film is Amy Archer, a delightful performance by Jennifer Jason Liegh. Miss Liegh has been described as playing a combination of Katherine Hepburn, think of her pretending to be a gun moll in a portion of "Bringing Up Baby," and Rosalind Russell most formidably as top reporter Hilde Johnson in "His Girl Friday." It's the brassiness these two mentors expressed in their respective roles, but in Hudsucker's Ms. Leigh must also play a tough broad, and a sensitive woman at the same time. It's a nice performance. The story is not too complex to follow but fun. The settings are terrific, with the real chaos and confusion of the huge mailroom being very similar to the chaos and confusion of the section where Jonathan Price works in the memorable futuristic fable "Brazil."

I won't go to far into the story which includes an attempt by Newman to bankrupt the company after selling off his and the board of Director's shares and then buying them back at the greatly reduced price. His plan was to have Robbins run the company into bankruptcy. However, Robbins or rather Norville has an invention, very simple, but a natural, the hula hoop. Of course what happens is that the stock goes way up, and the board has to come up with another scheme to accomplish their objective. A happy ending is on the way, and Norville is vindicated of false charges and eventually is working on his next invention, the Frisbee.

There are two really memorable though not important scenes that have no effect on the plot. In the first of these Peter Gallagher appears, with a strong resemblance to Dean Martin and lip cync to one of Martin's hits recordings at a big society party. It is terrific. Second is a fantasy dance sequence featuring Norville and a dancer wearing a very skimpy outfit. They dance to a segment of Bizet's Carmen against an all white background including a white floor. Though the lady dancer, possibly Amy Archer is spectacular in her dance moves, Norville is a complete idiot, dancing in imitation of a bull. It's another fantastic moment and definite highlights to a very amusing film.

5. Burn After Reading. The most recent of the Coen Brothers very funny films also includes a few deaths to liven things up. It's cast includes some of the Coen Brothers regulars, i.e. George Clooney and Francis McDormand, playing Harry Pfarer and Linda Lizle respectively, but it also features a very funny take by Brad Pitt as Chad Feldheimer and a very uptight performance by Tilda Swinton as Katie Cox playing in her usual tight lipped style. The story takes place in Washington D.C. and begins with John Malkovich, Katie's husband Osbourne Cox being relieved of his position with the CIA as a specialist on the Balkans. He is very angry about this dismissal and decides to write his memoirs describing his work with the Agency and of course he is planning to be very careful not to reveal any important secrets. Katie is having an affair with Clooney who also works for the government. In this role Clooney plays a world class womanizer and is very funny.

But the stars of the humor section are Pitt and McDormand. They work for a commercial workout venture, exercise equipment, gym. Earlier we are treated to the observations of a doctor who is examining an unseen McDormand and providing answers to her plea of needing a new body. He notes that surgery can solve an overlarge butt, too fat arms, etc. and a reinforcement medical procedure of breast implants can solve the bust problem, for the thighs, though he recommends an exercise program. McDormand as Linda Litze is to far advanced into her 40's to be satisfied with half measures if she hopes to acquire a real strongly commited male companion. She has taken to using the internet for dates. We are introduced to one of her partners in this venture and note virtually no life in the man. She is really frustrated and determined to earn enough money for the surgery after her insurance company has turned down She makes another inernet contact and arranges to meet the latter at her favorite spot, a park bench in a D.C. park next to the Potomac. There she meets Clooney, who has decided on a rest, and who responds when she says the name of her internet source. She asks his name, "are you Absalom (or whatever) and he says, "what" initially and then "yes" when his womanizing instincts come into play. He had just finished another liaison with Malkovich's wife, Tilda Swindon, but is already for more action.

All this has little to do with the overall story, but it does come together when Pitt and McDormand find the CD containing Malkovich's memoirs on the floor at their place of employment. A quick review and the two are convinced that it is real intelligence and decide, or at least she does, that selling it to the Russians will provide the most money.

Well that's enough of the plot which is far more involved than this. Some people are killed, one flees the country, and you'll have to see it and try to keep all the roles straight. It's classic Coen Brothers with humor, confusion and some crime thrown in to provide a well rounded flick entertainment.