|
Back to Table of Contents
Coen Bros
by Matt Seagull
College students are very picky when it comes to taste in movies. A
"Dude, Where's My Car?" esqe movie will certainly not cut
it when it comes to the choice for a movie on a Friday night. The Disney
cartoons, while still being seen as a novelty or strictly for reminiscence,
are not up to the intelligence level that college students want. What
they really want is a movie with a brain. But sometimes, even those
kinds of movies can create confusion, yet still leave a lasting impression
on their minds. When it comes to movies with a brain that can confuse
the viewer and still have an impact, you need look no further than the
movies of the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan.
The brothers were born in Minneapolis, MN during the 1950s. Both were
always interested in making movies. The duo started making movies in
the 1980s. They wanted their movies to have a bit of everything: humor,
irony, violence, etc. They are also big on film noir. Their screen debut
came with 1984's "Blood Simple." The two wrote, directed,
produced and edited the dark film. The film as well as the brothers
earned critical acclaim. Their success continued with 1987's "Raising
Arizona," which was a lighter movie filled with more comedy than
their previous work. They finally attained mainstream success in 1996
with the release of "Fargo," a chilling murder mystery. What
made "Fargo" even stranger is that a caption was read saying
it was based on a true story, yet nothing according to what took place
in the film had ever been documented as occurring.
Many of the Coen Brothers' movies have been underground successes, but
none have had more success among college students than "The Big
Lebowski" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
"The Big Lebowski" stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey Lebowski,
or "The Dude" as he likes to be called. He lives the life
of a bum, and it's a very happy life. He's unemployed; he bowls and
just hangs around. Suddenly, one day, his happy life takes a turn for
the worse when his house gets broken into. It seems there is another
Jeffrey Lebowski who is a millionaire and owes a lot of money to a group
of German nihilists. The nihilists then urinate on The Dude's rug when
they find out he's not the real Lebowski. Then The Dude starts on a
quest to get a new rug, and ends up caught in a mystery of a kidnapping.
The millionaire Lebowski's wife is kidnapped, and it's up to The Dude
and his friends, Walter (played by John Goodman) and Donny (played by
Steve Buscemi), to save the day.
There are certain parts of the movie that are hard to understand, like
The Dude's dream sequences. One sequence has him running from a giant
bowling ball. The other has him dancing wearing bowling shoes. While
tough to comprehend, the scenes are two of the viewers' favorites. Viewers
will fall in love with Goodman's character, Walter, and of course, The
Dude himself.
Another popular Coen Brother's movie among college students is "O
Brother, Where Art Thou?" It includes many parts of Homer's “Odyssey,”
including the three sirens, a blind prophet and a flood. However, this
story takes place in the 1930s, and follows three convicts on the run.
One of the most unique aspects of the movie are the inconsequential
scenes that seemingly do not follow the plotline nor have any relevance
to the plot, such as the trio's run-in with George "Babyface"
Nelson, the notorious bank robber.
Another aspect of the two Coen Brothers movies that make them so attractive
to the viewers is the soundtrack. "The Big Lebowski" contains
music from The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello, to name
a few. The "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack nabbed
six awards at this year's Grammy's, including the biggest award for
Album of the Year.
Email Matt Seagull at Joinks25@aol.com
|
