The rap against the Coen brothers is simple. They don’t particularly like the characters they create, so how are audiences supposed to embrace them?
I rarely, if ever, agree with that sentiment, partially because I loved every last soul in “Raising Arizona” and bonded with key players from “Fargo,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
The misanthropic label seemed the kind of attack critics lunge for when the usual barbs don’t apply. Joel and Ethan Coens crank out smart, sophisticated films that turn familiar genres on their ear. They make criticizing them a chore.
The duo is far from perfect.
“Intolerable Cruelty,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There” and “Ladykillers,” which I couldn’t sit through all the way but intend to watch again, prove it. But when they hit the mark they have few, if any, peers.
Try “Miller’s Crossing,” a work of near genius which gets precious little credit.
I’ll post a link to my “Burn After Reading” review on Friday.
(Photo: Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne lock horns in the brilliant gangster film “Miller’s Crossing.”)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
James Frazier 09.11.08 at 3:42 pm
It is sort of difficult to critique them. That Raising Arizona mini-review I just put up took a freaking half-hour to write.
I’m planning to discuss all of them eventually. I just watched Miller’s Crossing, which was the only one left I hadn’t seen, and loved it.
cftoto 09.11.08 at 6:03 pm
It does point to something that all journalists rely on too heavily … the theme … or meme. Once a label gets affixed, it rarely comes off.
The Coens’ are cruel to their characters? Well, we’ll see every subsequent movie of theirs through that lens…
blackhawk12151 09.11.08 at 7:17 pm
Miller’s Crossing is brilliant. One of the greatest films of the 90’s
K 09.11.08 at 7:22 pm
I’m a big fan of Raising Arizona as well. The review I read before seeing it the first time came down to an objection of its meanspirited stereotype dipiction of southern rubes. After seeing the movie, it was obvious that the stereotype southern rubes were all in the reviewer’s mind as the characters all rocked. Presumably, a HS or less education with a southern accent is just instantly interpreted by some folks as “stupid”. Given that’s the default movie depiction, I guess you can’t really blame them.
cftoto 09.11.08 at 7:27 pm
One of the zillion reasons why I love “Raising Arizona” is how easily every single actor handles the accents. There’s not a false note sounded for 90 minutes.