Barton Fink

I am beginning to realise that all Coen bros films are a little off the wall!!!

Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down Hotel Earle.

The Coens wrote the screenplay in three weeks while experiencing difficulty during the writing of another film, Miller's Crossing. Soon after Miller's Crossing was finished, the Coens began filming Barton Fink, which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1991. In a rare sweep, it won the Palme D'or prize, as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Turturro). Although it was celebrated almost universally by critics and nominated for three Academy Awards, the movie grossed only $6,000,000 at the box office – two-thirds of its estimated budget.

The process of writing and the culture of entertainment production are two prominent themes of Barton Fink. The world of Hollywood is contrasted with that of Broadway, and the film analyzes superficial distinctions between High Culture and low culture. Other themes in the film include fascism and WW2; slavery and conditions of labor in creative industries; and how intellectuals relate to "the common man". Because of its diverse elements, Barton Fink has defied efforts at genre classification. It has been variously referred to as  film noir, a horror, and a buddy film.

After a slow start I really got into this film and the Hotel Earle is a prime candidate for set building projects with it's peeling wallpaper and countless shoes outside of countless doors.  It reminded me of a cross between The Shining and Fawlty Towers!!

Definitely one to look at furthere I think.

Oh Brother! Where art thou?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 adventure comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey.

Literally  LOVE this film!!!!!  Clooney and Co. are hysterically funny as the bumbling heroes of the piece, caught up in a catalogue of errors as they evade capture after escaping from a chain gang.  Everything that can go wrong, does, including being beaten up by a bible salesman for their money, and one of there number being turned into a frog (not really but they really do believe it for a time!)  But on the way they also manage to make a hit record and end up being pardoned by the governor.

The story is hysterically funny, but also touching at times (when you realise that the whole thing has been concoted by Clooney to stop his wife marrying someone else), and the de-saturated colours lend themselves really well to the feeling of nostalgia and give the film a timeless feel.

Waiting

Managed to find a stack of films on Amazon for £12, am waiting for them to arrive then I'm going to have a marathon movie week next week :D

Burn After Reading

Burn after Reading, starring John Malkovich, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Richard Jenkins.  Realeased in 2008 it features John Malkovich as CIA analyst Osbourne Cox who, faced with a demotion decides to quit and write his memoirs instead.  The ensuing tale of deception by just about everyone in the story is at times hilariously funny, and at others shockingly graphic.

For me the highlight of the film is Brad Pitt's ingenious portrayal of the himbo Chad, and I was genuinely shocked when he was shot in the head hiding in Cox's wardrobe by the decidedly dodgy Harry Pfarrere (George Clooney).  I honestly thought it was like a dream sequence with Chad envisioning what would happen if he was caught......but it wasn't.

I began this film thinking for the first 20 minutes that it was wierd and I was never going to enjoy it, but I was surprisingly engaged throughout and really got into it.

Wonder if Dave Kinney would let me build The Chair for part of my set building!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

The inner workings of an Art student's Mind?

Hi and welcome to my blog about the Coen Brothers films.  I will post here after watching each film to let you know my thoughts about them!!!! Why, I hear you ask????  Because at college we are going to be building sets inspired by a chosen Coen Brothers film.....that's why!