Have the Coen Brothers ever made a good film? Seriously. Dont get me wrong they are great directors. They have a fantastic visual sense. Their films are filled with vivid characters and interesting set ups. But have they ever made you cry with laughter, weep with sorrow or held you in suspense?
<*dv_2*> I have watched Barton Fink, Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy and The Big Lebowski and have only ever been left with an academic admiration for their work. Despite the many disappointments I watched O Brother Where Art Thou? Maybe this would be the film. The one where I too get to see the genius of the Coen Brothers.
<*dv_1*> I watched the film. I was left with an academic admiration for the film. Again.
The music was great. Recasting the Odyssey in 1920s America was a great idea. The sets, costumes and much of the acting was great. But I was left unmoved. Hollow. Emotionally flat.
Aside from the abysmal gurning of George Clooney my problem with the film was the same problem I experience with any Coen Brothers film.
<*dv_0*> They are held in thrall to the movie making of another era. They are obsessive cinephiles who pack their films with little homages to the films they love. Only they seem to spend so long on lavishly recreating another period that they seem to forget to put something of themselves in. To me their films lack heart. I hope one day they choose to make a contemporary film. Without the option to recreate their imaginations might be freed to actually create something that other film makers in the future might want to borrow from.
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