The Coen brothers are perhaps the most art-devoted directors on the planet. I'm not referring to a style, method, or theme in their work. I mean to say that they seem to view their films as art, more so than any director I can think of.
I barely know what I'm trying to get across. Instead of saying what they are or aren't, I'll give you examples of people they are similar to. Remember the writer in The Player, who trumpeted the raw "reality" of his script? The Coen brothers are like that, but without the cliches, starving artist martyrdom, and the willingness to sell out for success. I don't think they ever needed to compromise their vision at all. You know the snobby elitists, whether in music, art, or film? Same thing again. They seem a little less arrogant, though they might just be more secure in their superiority.
Alright, that was getting nowhere and doing it slowly. I'll try to spit it out.
The Coen brothers are talented writer/directors with nearly prefect technical skills. They plan every aspect of their movies, part of their obsession with perfection. Every scene is storyboarded. They learn and experiment, as shown in their progression from Fargo to No Country for Old Men, two movies with similar themes but very different technical quality.
They are very, very good.
Their only panned movies were The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty. The Ladykillers was a remake of a 1955 version. I saw it in theaters years ago, and enjoyed it. I was at most 14, but I considered it a decent movie. From reading reviews of it, the general opinion was that the Coen brothers had been too faithful to the original, which restricted their ability to put their mark on it. Intolerable Cruelty I have also seen, and was neither impressed nor outraged. It is on par with most romantic comedies. As a genre so foreign to the Coen brothers previous work, I can't really fault them. If anything, I'd give them a little credit for taking on these two movies. The first restricted their choices but set the bar high. The second forced them to play an entirely different kind of game than they'd been used to, putting them in unfamiliar territory. Not long ago, I was critical of Altman for never taking chances or expanding his repertoire. The Coen brothers are doing the opposite, attempting unfamiliar projects and films with little chance of success.
The Coen brothers are undeniably talented and successful, but they have also shown interest and ability in a wider range of genres than most directors dare to experiment with.
Adding to the interest is their fairly hush hush approach to their films. They make a film, release it, and move on. In my mind, I see them wrap up production, send off the film, and sit down to work on the next script. A few weeks later, maybe the TV is on as they lounge around, tossing ideas back and forth. A film critic comes on, and the brothers pause for a minute. At the end of the review, in which the critic was unsure of the message or theme the film was driving at, the brothers grin and return to their thoughts.
When asked about the underlying meaning of a film, the Coen brothers have been notoriously closed mouthed. Perhaps they don't answer because the audience's ability to discover the message isn't very important to the film's creators. Judging from their large number and wide spread of films, it could be that they make the films for themselves, because they are film creators and they enjoy it. The hidden art or truth in the films is a little secret, put their for the sake of creating art.
That is what I was trying to get across the first time. The Coen brothers could be called true artists, creating their art for themselves and for the sake of the art. We are truly an audience, bearing witness to their without ever understanding it. Maybe we'll get lucky, and they'll throw us a bone.
Either way, if we keep getting work on par with their performance so far, I'm happy just watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment