Coen Brothers

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2003)

Movies from the Coen brothers hardly ever circle around its stars-even when they feature George Clooney. This notion is parallel to that of Alfred Hitchcock: a director who merely used his big name actors (e.g. James Stewart, Cary Grant) to draw people toward his films, a brilliant stunt if there ever was. Like the auteur Hitchcock, Joel and Ethan Coen apply their signature through their own particular themes and styles. Typical Coen trademarks include wacky characters with even wackier circumstances, complex narratives, and of course, malicious criminals. The use of dialogue throughout their flicks is sharp and witty, and the cinematography is usually astounding. Like all formalists, style to the Coens is very important. Luckily for them, their actors have been excellent too.
While the Coens have been sticking to their guns with the right team to emulate their indigenous southern players (John Goodman, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, etc.), the end result lies in the view that stresses the dominance of the director. This view is the auteur theory: whoever controls the mise en scene is the true `author' of a movie (Giannetti, 305). Mise en scene is the medium of the story. Many elements strike across this medium throughout Coen films, beginning initially with quirky, eccentric characters.
With a commonly esoteric, well-read audience, many will claim Ethan and Joel to be elitists of sorts, holding them to their own acidic mockery of both white-trash (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski) and white-collared foolishness (Barton Fink, Oh Brother Where Art Thou), with characters emulating intellectual superiorities. The Big Lebowski's the Dude recurs various dream sequences any time he's cold-cocked by incriminating visitors, or whenever he enters his own `acid-flashback' state of mind. Like the fate of these dreams, meticulous camera angles focus on the fate of the individuals.
Dialogue to the Coens is so important, perhaps so debatable to say that it's the very element that links and ties the entire story of The Big Lebowski together. Each character in Lebowski follows their own rules of dialogue: Walter (John Goodman) ties everything back to Vietnam; Donny (Buscemi) does nothing but appear to be confused and behind in conversations the others are spewing back and forth. For example, the Dude (Jeff Bridges at his best) and Walter are exasperated about the Dude's missing car, yet Donny is still hung up on why there is underwear in the briefcase and not the one million dollars that are supposed to exchange. Even in a smaller role, the dedicated assistant to Jeffrey `The Big' Lebowski, Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman) never breaks from his `Smithers' personality (using the Simpsons' analogy, Brandt obeys to every request). Finally, the Dude incorporates tidbits from previously encountered conversations into new dialogues later in the film: `This aggression will not stand,' `We're gonna cut your Johnson off, Larry,' and many more.
Technical aspects in Coen projects-a Joel specialty, as Ethan is more the writer-employ much intimacy towards the characters, in order for the usual black humor to work. Even in extremely violent situations (and there are a lot of them), camera angles and particular framing allow scenes to become flat-out hilarious. Characters are always framed in a way that the viewer can anticipate that something God-awful is going to happen. When the Dude first enters his house alone, the camera aims down on the poor guy just before his face is flushed down the toilet and almighty carpet is soiled on. This type of anticipation makes this sequences a lot funnier than the usual `pop out of nowhere' scams we see in much horror and crime-drama today.
Another important element to the Coen's filmmaking is the use of cinematography with rather `obscure' environments. Even when characters are not isolated throughout many of the Coen brothers' films, inner solitude is still apparent. This notion might only contradict with The Big Lebowski's closeness in its framing. The film just screams, `This is the Dude and his simplicity.' The varying close-ups indicate that The Big Lebowski might not be `the big Lebowski' we might think. Other formalist elements include a plethora of jump cuts that often signify cliffhangers concluding jokes.
When you think Coen, you probably don't think sound. However, their soundtracks often tell a lot more than even the characters do. Who can forget Credence Clearwater Revival's `dude dude dude' (okay so it's `doo doo doo') when The Big Lebowki's Dude shoots from a former-fundamentalist to California, err, Dude?
An auteur is not known for his or her consistency; heck, even critics will tell you that not all of French New Wave was good. The Coens' Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona, Fargo, and Oh Brother Where Art Thou are all huge hits with critics; yet The Hudsucker Proxy, Big Lebowski, and Blood Simple, likewise, all have had their cynics (their not-so-talked-about films such as The Man Who Wasn't There and Barton Fink are cult classics.). Perhaps this case of hit-and-miss is so mightily apparent due to the Coen brothers revolving their films around witty dialogue and style (almost nominated for a Best Screenplay or Best Cinematography whenever dropping a film), and not the extensiveness of character development.
The struggle between becoming a great auteur and shooting for a Hollywood hit is a debate that now has become more visible with the release of Intolerable Cruelty. The film stars an ensemble Hollywood cast, including huge stars Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas and an again-used Clooney, and even employs the use of a little romantic-comedy flair absent from previous Coen independents. Can the Coen brothers be deemed for films much to the liking of an Alfred Hitchcock who's acclaimed for using `style over substance'? After all, an auteur figure is one who adds his own personal touch to his art. The Coens' make great art look black, much to the humor that has helped separate these two directors from any other-independent or Hollywood notwithstanding.

4/5 stars