Description
Book SynopsisIn 1984 Joel and Ethan Coen burst onto the art-house film scene with their neo-noir Blood Simple and ever since then they have sharpened the cutting edge of independent film. Blending black humor and violence with unconventional narrative twists, their acclaimed movies evoke highly charged worlds of passion, absurdity, nightmare realms, and petty human failures, all the while revealing the filmmakers'' penchant for visual jokes and bravura technical strokes. Their central characters may be blind to reality and individual flaws, but their illusions, dreams, fears, and desires map the boundaries of their worldsworlds made stunningly memorable by the Coens.In The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen, Erica Rowell unmasks the filmmakers as prankster mythmakers exploiting and subverting universal storytelling modes to further what seems to be their artistic agenda: to elicit laughs. Often employing satire and allegory, the Coens'' movies hold a mirror up to American society, allo
Trade Review...well written and engaging. * American Reference Books Annual, March 2008 *
Rowell (a journalist and film producer) titles each chapter examining a film from the prolific duo Joel and Ethan Coen (known as the Coen Brothers) after an object that figures so prominently in the movie that it is almost a character. In "Blood Simple: A Photo," "The Big Lebowski: A Bowling Ball" and the other essays, she offers a synopsis, review, and dissection of the themes, technique, influences, and stark social commentary of the often violent and satirical and always stylized Coen films. The writing-directing brothers also created Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. * Reference and Research Book News, August 2007 *
Rowell examines [the Coen brothers] with greater concentration than the typical scattershot making-of or makers-of commentary, and even announces something like an analytical framework to apply to the films. * Film International *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Blood Simple: A Photo 2. Raising Arizona: A Baby 3. Miller's Crossing: A Hat 4. Barton Fink: A Head 5. The Hudsucker Proxy: A Circle 6. Fargo: Snow 7. The Big Lebowski: A Bowling Ball 8. O Brother, Where Art Thou?: A Song 9. The Man Who Wasn't There: A Flying Saucer 10. Intolerable Cruelty andThe Ladykillers: Spoils or Oh Brothers, Where Art Thou? Appendix: Winks and Nods Bibliography Filmography Index About the Author
