Favorite Director (Tyler's paper)

For many film students it may be hard to pin point exactly who their favorite director or directors are. However for myself, it is rather easy. Joel and Ethan Coen or known professionally as The Coen Brothers are without a doubt my favorite directors. I could write forever about how great they are. However, for the sake of this post (paper) I will keep it about their style. (As the Cowboy from Lebowski would say, "I dig your style dude.")

The Coens are amongst the few contemporary filmmakers who have shown a great affection for the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s, and have incorporated thier influences with varying degrees of subtlety, ranging from entire movies in the screwball mode like The Hudsucker Proxy and Intolerable Cruelty.

They are Oscar winners for Best Original Screenplay (Fargo) and Best Adapted Screenplay (No Country...) they are known for having great dialogue in their films. In some of their films it can be Laconic (using very few words) examples are No Country..., Fargo, and The Man Who Wasn't There. Other times they can be Loquacious (very talkative) like their films Lebowski and Hudsucker Proxy. Their scripts typically feature a combination of dry wit, exaggerated language, and glaring irony.

The various aspects that make the character of a city, state, or region of America are an intergral component of several of their films. Raising Arizona strongly features the distinctive Arizona landscape, and some of the characters in the film are highly exaggerated stereotypes of people's notions of people from Arizona. Similarly, in Fargo the accents of North Dakota and Minnesota are an essential part of the film. The Big Lebowski and Barton Fink play off of Los Angeles. O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ladykillers are distinctly Southern. The Hudsucker Proxy plays off of New York. No Country For Old Men depicts the West Texas and Mexico border. Burn After Reading depicts the culture in D.C. A Serious Man examines a Jewish community in the suburbs of the Twin Cities.

In addition, The Coens often set their movies in times of American crisis. Miller's Crossing takes place during prohibition. Barton Fink is in the time around the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lebowski during the 1991 Gulf War, O Brother... during the Great Depresssion. WWII is mentioned as an important plot point in The Man Who Wasn't There.

They often use animals that seem to have an understanding of what is happening: the bloodhound who looks suprised in the cabin scene of O Brother..., the scruffy terrier accompanying the tyke in the Rug Daniels scene in Miller's Crossing, the pomerianian show dog (with papers) who becomes agitated with Walter during Smokey's foul in Lebowski, the ever-watching and suspicious Pickles in The Ladykillers, and the pit bull who is seen through binoculars by Moss in No Country For Old Men.

Money is involved in most of their films. The plot of Blood Simple escalates as a result of money. It starts the events of Fargo. It is trying to be collected in Lebowski. In O Brother... they are on a chase for treasure that will make them rich. In Burn After Reading money is needed to pay for a character's cosmetic surgery. The confusion and moral conflict surrounding a suspected bribe drive portions of the plot in A Serious Man.

Dreams figure prominently and frequently into the Coen's work. Raising Arizona and A Serious Man feature several dream sequences. Barton Fink has been described as being very dreamlike, many have speculated that the second half of the film is a dream sequence itself. Blood Simple, contains an important dream sequence, and No Country... ends with a character's vivid description of a dream. The function of the dream sequences in their films is often times to foreshadow the progression of the plot, to reflect on what already occured during the film and, above all else, to reveal the fears, motivations, and introspections of its characters.

Hopefully after reading this you have a better understanding of the style of the Coens. It is easy to see why they are great filmmakers, ("Worthy Fucking Adversaries") there are other great filmmakers however for me the Coen's take the cake. I enjoy all of their films. If you haven't seen any or all of them do yourself a favor and check them out.

Coen Bros Works:
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?, 2001
Intolerable Cruelty, 2003
The Ladykillers, 2004
No Country For Old Men, 2007
Burn After Reading, 2008
A Serious Man, 2009
True Grit, 2010

Other Works:
Crimewave, 1985, written by Coens and Sam Raimi. Directed by Raimi.
Gates of Eden, 1998, collection of short stories written by Ethan.
The Naked Man, 1998, co written by Ethan.
The Drunken Driver Has The Right of Way, 2001, a collection of poems and limericks written by Ethan.
Bad Santa, 2003, produced by the Coens.
Paris, je t'aime, 2006, Film segment: Tuileries.
Chacun son cinema, 2007, Film segment: World Cinema.
Romance & Cigarettes, 2006, produced by Coens. written and directed by John Turturro.
Suburbicon, 2012, will be produced and written by Coens. George Clooney will direct.