O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Faber and Faber Screenplays)
The Brothers Coen (of Fargo fame, among others) have an uncanny ability to up the quirky cinematic ante with each new project. This, their latest effort (featuring George Clooney in his Golden Globe Award-winning performance as Everett Ulysses McGill) is a Homerian epic meets Preston Sturges comedy. Three prison chain gang escapees are on the lam in Depression-era Mississippi. Throughout their odyssey, they encounter a cyclops (an ominous, eye-patch-wearing salesman), numerous sirens, and a rogue claiming to have compacted with the Devil to trade his soul for mastery of the Delta blues guitar. This edition emphasizes the text and offers very little in the way of camera shots, angles, and points of view. The Coens' ever-broadening fan base should make this popular in all film collections.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.