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The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen
Author(s): Erica Rowell (Author)
- Publisher: Scarecrow Press
- Publication Date: 1 Jun. 2007
- Language: English
- Print length: 392 pages
- ISBN-10: 0810858509
- ISBN-13: 9780810858503
Book Description
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)Editorial Reviews
Review
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.
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.
