WAKING UP TO A NIGHTMARE

I like the Coen Brothers' films - they are different, edgy, unpredictable. Like Kubrick, the Coens attack the audience, leaving them with unanswered questions of good v. evil, right v. wrong.

Coen antiheros

Joel (59) and Ethan (56) Coen started out making 8mm films as youngsters. Joel is married to actress Frances McDormand (who has starred in 6 Coen movies) they have one child.  Ethan is married to film editor, Tricia Cooke, they have two children. Both brothers live in NYC.  The Coens began their professional movie careers with the release of  'Blood Simple' in 1984. That film, like others in the Coen repertoire has become a cult classic. Including the just released 'Inside Llewyn Davis', the Coens have produced 16 feature films: Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), The Lady Killers (2009), No Country For Old Men (2004), Burn After Reading (2008), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).

To label their films 'noir' would be too easy as they are much more Sisyphean. Gloomy, flawed characters who rise to the occasion only to fall because of their inner demons.  Coen films have quirky, twist and turn plots with people placed in unnatural circumstances.  More visual than narrative, for Coen antiheros it all about waking up to a nightmare - and that's what makes Coen films so enjoyable and engaging.

I have recently begun to re-watch all of the Coen films, many of which have been critically acclaimed.  Their latest, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' is no exception. It depicts a week in the life of a folk singer in NYC in 1961. It stars Oscar Isaac as Llewyn and Carey Mulligan, as his girlfriend Jean. "Everything you touch turns to shit. Like King Midas' idiot brother", says Jean and the movie proves her right. Winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, one of the American Film Institute's top ten films of 2013, and the nominee of three Golden Globe Awards, 'Inside Llewyn Davis is Oscar bound.

The Coens (photo of Ethan and Joel with Oscars) next project is what they have referred to as the third installment of their "numbskull trilogy", its current title is 'Hail Caesar', the other two numbskulls being 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' and 'Intolerable Cruelty'. George Clooney, who starred in the first two, is slated for the 'Hail Caesar' lead. Besides Frances McDormand and George Clooney, the Coens have used many of the same actors in their films, including: Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Jon Polito, and John Turturro.

The Coens have been nominated for 13 Academy Awards and have won four.  They have 20 Golden Globe nominations with three wins. I believe these numbers will all change in 2014 with Oscar and Globe wins.

Best
Jim Lavorato