There’s a kind of nostalgia for the Cold War, almost in the same way that British culture incorporates a nostalgia … More
Tag: Coen Brothers
Outside in the Village
A musician’s life is usually precarious, especially if you’re attempting to work as a featured artist. Llewyn Davis, as played … More
Craft and language
Coen Brothers genre pieces are rarely without an ironic twist or two, a knowing nod to the implausibilities of the … More
The past present serious tense
Roger Deakins’s brilliant cinematography has been conspicuous in some of the Coen Brothers’s films—in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, for … More
Upended trajectories
At the point at which Burn After Reading was released, the Coen Brothers had a certain amount of form, in … More
Fate has a car crash
In Alex Garland’s recent science fiction-series Devs (which is in my opinion as good a piece of SF as has … More
Unnecessary translation
I guess no-one hits the target every time, creatively speaking: I certainly know I don’t. But after our project to … More
A***holes looking pretty
It’s an interesting proposition, a romantic comedy starring Hollywood ‘A’-listers, written and directed by the Coen Brothers. What would these … More
Pretty appropriation
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is an altogether more straightforward seeming film than the Coen Brothers’ typical output. Goofy comedies … More
Beautiful scaffolding
Certain themes and techniques recur throughout Joel and Ethan Coen’s films. Convoluted crime stories with arbitrary conclusions in which none … More
An essay in unreality
People like to ascribe meanings to Coen Brothers films. I mean, they must mean something, right? They’re so tricksy and … More
None of this matters
The Big Lebowski is such a legendary movie that it’s almost embarrassing to admit this is the first time I’ve … More
Free play
One might be forgiven for thinking that the Joel and Ethan Coen made Barton Fink in order to dispel suspicions … More
Filmic mythology
If the daft comedy Raising Arizona was a film made of style, with Miller’s Crossing the Coen Brothers showed that … More