The Brothers Grim

The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen

Erica Rowell

In 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 worlds—worlds 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, allowing viewers to both chuckle and gasp at its absurdities, hypocrisies, and foibles. From business partnerships (Blood Simple, The Ladykillers) to marriage (Intolerable Cruelty) to friendship and ethics (Miller's Crossing), the breakdowns of relationships are a steady focus in their work. Often the Coens' satires put broken social institutions in their cinematic crosshairs, exposing cracks in ineffective penal systems (Raising Arizona; O Brother, Where Art Thou?), unjust justice systems (The Man Who Wasn't There), a crooked corporate America (The Hudsucker Proxy), unnecessary wars (The Big Lebowski), a tyrannical Hollywood (Barton Fink), and the unbridled, fatuous pursuit of the American Dream (Fargo). While audiences may be excused for missing the duo's social commentary, the depth and breadth of the brothers' films bespeak an intelligence and cultural acuity that is rich, highly topical, and hard to pigeonhole.

Scarecrow Press

Pages: 392 • Trim: 6 x 9⅛

978-0-8108-5850-3 • Paperback • May 2007 • $73.00 • (£56.00)

978-1-4616-6408-6 • eBook • May 2007 • $69.00 • (£53.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / Direction & Production

The Brothers Grim

The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen

Paperback

eBook

Summary

In 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 worlds—worlds 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, allowing viewers to both chuckle and gasp at its absurdities, hypocrisies, and foibles. From business partnerships (Blood Simple, The Ladykillers) to marriage (Intolerable Cruelty) to friendship and ethics (Miller's Crossing), the breakdowns of relationships are a steady focus in their work. Often the Coens' satires put broken social institutions in their cinematic crosshairs, exposing cracks in ineffective penal systems (Raising Arizona; O Brother, Where Art Thou?), unjust justice systems (The Man Who Wasn't There), a crooked corporate America (The Hudsucker Proxy), unnecessary wars (The Big Lebowski), a tyrannical Hollywood (Barton Fink), and the unbridled, fatuous pursuit of the American Dream (Fargo). While audiences may be excused for missing the duo's social commentary, the depth and breadth of the brothers' films bespeak an intelligence and cultural acuity that is rich, highly topical, and hard to pigeonhole.

Details

Scarecrow Press

Pages: 392 • Trim: 6 x 9⅛

978-0-8108-5850-3 • Paperback • May 2007 • $73.00 • (£56.00)

978-1-4616-6408-6 • eBook • May 2007 • $69.00 • (£53.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / Direction & Production

Author

Erica Rowell has worked in the movie industry and as a journalist. Her work has been featured on Monitor Radio, FOXNEWS.com, ABCNEWS.com, and WNYC Radio. Her film credits include line producer on two independent features and art department coordinator on the studio feature, The Proposition (1998), starring Kenneth Branagh.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
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

Reviews

...well written and engaging.
— American Reference Books Annual

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

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

The Brothers Grim

The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen

Erica Rowell

The Brothers Grim

The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen

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