The Coens

The last 25 years has seen the rise of several prominent filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Mendes, Sofia Coppola, Guillermo del Toro and my personal favorites the Coen Brothers.  Each of this directors is distinct in his or her own way, but the Coen's along with Tarantino are perhaps have made their career based off their distinctive style.  The duo is also willing to tackle a variety of genres and turns out movies more consistently than any of these other directors.  The Coens are masters of black comedy, capturing the spirit of regions and time periods of America and a terrific understanding of language.  The two also have a great attention of detail (notice the background painting of scissors in Maude's apartment in The Big Lebowski - those scissors show up later).  The Coen's movie are also very existential in nature (Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, A Serious Man) while providing madcap comedy.  The Coen's also have a real sense of genre and have shown their hand several times to another master of language, Preston Sturges.  Finally, their movies tend to feature absurd violence to demonstrate characters that are totally oblivious.   Many of these characters find themselves important, when in reality there is nothing important about them.  My ranking of their movies:

14.  The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)


This certainly has many of the features of Coen Brother movies, but it's the only movie of theirs that I couldn't get into.  The movie has the right zany tone and an outlandish plot, but in the end it fell flat for me.


13.  Intolerable Cruelty ( 2003)


Not bad per se, but this is one of the few efforts where it seemed as if the brothers were trying to be mainstream.  That said the movie takes a hard line on love, lawyers (espcially those profitting from divorce) and upper class lifestyle.  The Coens never hold back from what they attend to lampoon, and Cruelty, is no different.  The star power here ends up being a hindrance.



12. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)


The most beautiful looking Coen brother movie, this black and white nod to film noir is very entertaining.  I honestly remember very little about this film, it's enjoyable but this seemed to be one of the more limited stories from the two.


11. Barton Fink (1991)


The first movie from the two blend genres, Barton Fink is a meditation on writer's block and the flaws of the Hollywood system.  Also featuring some of the brothers' most outlandish scenes and great performances from John Turturro and John Goodman, Barton Fink remains a solid but far from great effort from the two.  Also of note is the terrific set design (always a highlight of their films).

10. A Serious Man (2009)


A movie that I'm still digesting, this might be the most personal film for the two.  The two show a great attention to detail to recreats 60's suburbia through the eyes of a middle-age Jewish man.  One of the blacker comedies from the two it has also proven to be one of the most divisive and perhaps the most esoteric.

9.  The Ladykillers (2004)


The Coen's first real adaptation (I don't count O'Brother), they still manage to make this remake uniquely theirs.  Featuring some of the most outlandish characters, The Ladykillers might be their most underrated movie.  Tom Hanks fit perfectly into the lead role, and the rest of the cast fills out nicely with J.K. Simmons and Irma Hall delivering the goods.  The portrait of Hall's dead husband is a terrific set-piece along with a pivotal bridge.  Lastly there is the cat, one of the many Coen's quasi MacGuffins.

8. O, Brother Where Art Thou (2000)

Maybe the most popular Coen movie this side of Big Lebowski, it's a terrific display of the Coen's knowledge of language.  Featuring George Clooney's greatest performance, O' Brother displays a terrific vision of the deep south in the 1930's in a way only the Coens can do it.  The movie parallels the Odyssey very closely, but make it a great story of one man's redemption.

7. Raising Arizona (1987)


Following their successful debut the crime drama Blood Simple, the Coen's made a madcap screwball comedy with Raising Arizona.  One of the funniest movies to come out of the 80's the movie also featured Nicolas Cage before the fall.  A movie that also terrificly captures the rural southwest, Raising Arizona proved that the Coen brothers were a duo with a unique vision that would serve them well for years to come.

6. Burn After Reading (2008)


The craziest Coen movie since Big Lebowski, also makes little sense upon a first viewing.  However, the movie boasts one of the strongest casts, some of the funniest moments while exhibiting the trademark Coen assuredness.  The movie features some great dialogue and set design as well (loved the CIA office).  This may not be a favorite of many but I loved the zany madcap nature of it.  This goes well with 2009's In the Loop which demonstrates the incompetence of mid-level government bureaucrats.

5. Blood Simple (1984)


The brilliant debut of the Coen's is a hard boiled pulp thriller.  The Coen's display their great knowledge of the Texas landscape (which they would re-visit 23 years later) the film's terrific cinematography only augments the desperation of these lowly characters.    


4. Fargo (1996)


The brilliance of the Coens was finally recognized with Fargo, which terrificly doubled as a crime drama and dark comedy.  Featuring some of the most memorable characters and landscape of their movies, Fargo remains one of their most popular movies.  Frances McDormand won a deserved Oscar for her role as a pregnant detective.  The Coens used their knowledge of Minnesota to capture the dialect and regionality of the upper-midwest to capture the bulk of the film's comedy.

3. Miller's Crossing (1990)


Miller's Crossing has risen to the top of the Coen Brother pile over the past decade.  While lacking some of the snappy dialogue of other Coen scripts, the movie contains its own language which is appropriate given the film's crime setting.  The Coen's present a gangster flick unlike those we are most familiar with, but also staying very true to the genre.  The movie was largely ignored at first, as it was released around the same time as Goodfellas.  It may not be based on a true story, but the Coen's manage to create their very own world with this movie and pull of it perfectly.


2. No Country For Old Men (2007)


There isn't much to say about this, but despite the bleakness of the movie the movie still features many iconic Coen Brother staples.  Particularly the clothing, dialogue and featuring a great depiction of early 80's Texas.  Javier Bardem won the second Coen brothers acting Oscar as one of the greatest villains of the decade.

1. The Big Lebowski (1998)


I loved this when I first saw it and have continued to do so over the last decade.  The Coens created their greatest character with some of their most iconic dialogue.  The movie feels authentically LA despite being made by two mid-western boys.  Not only their best films, but also one of very favorite films.