The Cinema of the Coen Brothers: Hard-Boiled Entertainments

225 Pages·2015·6.66 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Adams

the cinema of T H E C O E N B ROT H E R S
hard-boiled entertainments
jeffrey adams
the cinema of THE COEN BROTHERS
DIRECTORS’ CUTS
Other selected titles in the Directors’ Cuts series:
the cinema of ISTVÁN SZABÓ:visions of europe
JOHN CUNNINGHAM
the cinema of AGNÈS VARDA:resistance and eclecticism
DELPHINE BÉNÉZET
the cinema of ALEXANDER SOKUROV:figures of paradox
JEREMI SZANIAWSKI
the cinema of MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM:borders, intimacy, terror
BRUCE BENNETT
the cinema of RAÚL RUIZ:impossible cartographies
MICHAEL GODDARD
the cinema of MICHAEL MANN:vice and vindication
JONATHAN RAYNER
the cinema of AKI KAURISMÄKI:authorship, bohemia, nostalgia, nation
ANDREW NESTINGEN
the cinema of RICHARD LINKLATER:walk, don’t run
ROB STONE
the cinema of BÉLA TARR:the circle closes
ANDRÁS BÁLINT KOVÁCS
the cinema of STEVEN SODERBERGH:indie sex, corporate lies, and digital videotape
ANDREW DE WAARD & R. COLIN TATE
the cinema of TERRY GILLIAM:it’s a mad world
JEFF BIRKENSTEIN, ANNA FROULA & KAREN RANDELL (eds)
the cinema of TAKESHI KITANO:flowering blood
SEAN REDMOND
the cinema of THE DARDENNE BROTHERS:responsible realism
PHILIP MOSLEY
the cinema of MICHAEL HANEKE:europe utopia
BEN McCANN & DAVID SORFA (eds)
the cinema of SALLY POTTER:a politics of love
SOPHIE MAYER
the cinema of JOHN SAYLES:a lone star
MARK BOULD
the cinema of DAVID CRONENBERG:from baron of blood to cultural hero
ERNEST MATHIJS
the cinema of JAN SVANKMAJER:dark alchemy
PETER HAMES (ed.)
the cinema of LARS VON TRIER:authenticity and artifice
CAROLINE BAINBRIDGE
the cinema of WERNER HERZOG:aesthetic ecstasy and truth
BRAD PRAGER
the cinema of TERRENCE MALICK:poetic visions of america (second edition)
HANNAH PATTERSON (ed.)
the cinema of ANG LEE:the other side of the screen (second edition)
WHITNEY CROTHERS DILLEY
the cinema of STEVEN SPIELBERG:empire of light
NIGEL MORRIS
the cinema of TODD HAYNES:all that heaven allows
JAMES MORRISON (ed.)
the cinema of ROMAN POLANSKI:dark spaces of the world
JOHN ORR & ELZBIETA OSTROWSKA (eds)
the cinema of MIKE LEIGH:a sense of the real
GARRY WATSON
the cinema of NANNI MORETTI:dreams and diaries
EWA MAZIERSKA & LAURA RASCAROLI
the cinema of DAVID LYNCH:american dreams, nightmare visions
ERICA SHEEN & ANNETTE DAVISON (eds)
the cinema of KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI:variations on destiny and chance
MAREK HALTOF
the cinema of GEORGE A. ROMERO:knight of the living dead (second edition)
TONY WILLIAMS
the cinema of KATHRYN BIGELOW:hollywood transgressor
DEBORAH JERMYN & SEAN REDMOND (eds)
the cinema of
THE COEN BROTHERS
hard-boiled entertainments
Jeffrey Adams
WALLFLOWER PRESS london & new york
A Wallflower Press Book
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contents

Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1 Blood Simple: ‘It’s the Same Old Song’ 15
2 Raising Arizona: A State of Mind 32
3 Miller’s Crossing: ‘A Handsome Movie about Men in Hats’ 49
4 Barton Fink: ‘For the Common Man’ 66
5 The Hudsucker Proxy: A Comedy of Reinvention 85
6 Fargo: In the Land of Tall Tales 101
7 The Big Lebowski: ‘The Dude Abides’ 116
8 O Brother, Where Art Thou?: The Hayseed Epic 134
9 The Man Who Wasn’t There: Recreating Classic Film Noir 147
10 No Country for Old Men: Darkness in the New West 164
11 A Serious Man(cid:27)(cid:1)(cid:49)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:67)(cid:77)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:49)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:69)(cid:80)(cid:89)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)179
Conclusion: The Ends of the Auteur:
Drawing Conclusions About Coen Brothers Movies 194
Filmography 201
Bibliography 204
Index 210
v

acknowledgements
I would like to thank the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of North
Carolina, Greensboro for granting me a research leave in the spring semester of 2013,
during which I was able to research and write large portions of this book.
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of Wallflower Press, whose patient and cheerful support made the publication of this
book an unusually pleasant process. Thanks go also to the editorial staff at Wallflower
Press, whose comments and suggestions for revisions were invaluable and contributed
greatly to the final shape of this book.
Many, many thanks are owed to Dr. Will Dodson for his generous assistance and
insightful commentary during the final preparation of the manuscript, and for his
always upbeat collegiality and friendly encouragement. I would also like to thank all
the students who over the years have taken my courses on the Coen brothers and on
film noir, most notably, Budd Wilkins, Clayton Dillard, Steve Carter, Riannon Clarke,
Wil Davis, Melissa Willenborg, Katie Campbell, Will Sharpe, Robert ‘Ren’ Brugger,
Kevin Harrison, and Tom Barker, for stimulating, challenging, and deepening my
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I would like especially to thank my wife, Anita Campitelli, for her loving support
of my work, for her patience during my frequent scholarly hermitages, and for sharing
with me not only the life of the mind, but a life of family and friendship all these years
– still my fantasy girl.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my sons – Jason, Dennis, Matthew,
and Joseph. Our little achievers, and proud we are of all of them.
vii

INTRODUCTION
By now, after three decades of critically acclaimed filmmaking, the Coen brothers,
Ethan and Joel, hardly need an introduction. Since their debut in 1984, the Coens
have risen from unknown independent filmmakers to the elite ranks of contemporary
American film directors, producing a substantial body of work largely on the periphery
of the mainstream movie industry. In this sense, the Coens have become a model for
the triumph of the ‘indie’ auteur over Hollywood. Working in tandem, the Coens
write, direct and edit all their films, maintaining complete control over the finished
product without interference from the movie studios with whom they partner to
finance their productions. ‘We’re mercifully free of the Hollywood committee devel-
opment process,’ says Joel. ‘The studios understand that if they are going to do a movie
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(cid:80)(cid:71)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:78)(cid:80)(cid:87)(cid:74)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:86)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:83)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:111)(cid:1)(cid:69)(cid:70)(cid:78)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:80)(cid:71)(cid:1)(cid:84)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:69)(cid:74)(cid:80)(cid:1)(cid:81)(cid:83)(cid:80)(cid:69)(cid:86)(cid:68)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:70)(cid:89)(cid:81)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:66)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:80)(cid:79)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:71)(cid:80)(cid:83)(cid:1)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:78)(cid:78)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:74)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:1)
profit – the Coens have enjoyed an unsurpassed degree of creative autonomy and can
lay legitimate claim to being independent auteurs. Yet, for all their freedom and crea-
tive control, the Coens would not define themselves as auteurs, understood as film
directors who imprint their work with a unique vision articulated in a recognisable
stylistic ‘signature’. Nor would the Coen brothers subscribe to the latest definition of
the auteur as ‘star director’, the new role for the prominent filmmaker whose auteur
identity, according to Timothy Corrigan, functions commercially as marketing strategy
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the Coen brothers have attained a cult-like status, but in truth they could not be less
interested in cultivating an iconic media persona as a promotion and marketing tool.
In the blunt words of Barry Sonnenfeld, the Coens’ director of photography for the
early films, ‘that’s the great thing about Joel and Ethan. They don’t want to be on the
Today show. They don’t want to be in People. They don’t give a shit’ (Allen 2006: 23).
Indeed, the Coen brothers are indifferent to media attention and unaffected by
popular cultural trends. As filmmakers, they are mavericks among mavericks. Unlike
hard-boiled entertainments 1