The Brothers Coen
Subtitle: unique characters of violence
By: Ryan P. Doom.
Series: Modern filmmakers; Introduction: violently original -- Murder most simple: Blood simple (1985) -- Babies, bikers, and buffoons: Raising Arizona (1987) -- The professional kill: Miller's crossing (1990) -- Life of the imaginary mind: Barton Fink (1991) -- Reinventing the circle of suicide: The Hudsucker proxy (1994) -- What's the deal with greed and wood chippers?: Fargo (1996) -- Abiding by Chandler: The big Lebowski (1998) -- Three convicts and the KKK: O brother, where art thou? (2000) -- Cutting Cain's law: The man who wasn't there (2001) -- Cruel intentions: Intolerable cruelty (2003) -- The killing joke: The ladykillers (2004) -- The unrelenting country: No country for old men (2007) -- Burning paranoia: Burn after reading (2008); Modern filmmakers
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Santa Barbara, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780313355981; 9780313355998
Subjects: Coen, Joel -- Criticism and interpretation; Coen, Ethan -- Criticism and interpretation; Violence in motion pictures
Description: "The Brothers Coen: Unique Characters of Violence spans the career of the two-time Oscar-winning producer/director team, exploring the theme of violence that runs through a genre-spanning body of work, from the neo-noir of Blood Simple to the brutal comedy Burn After Reading. In chapters focusing on major characters, author Ryan Doom looks at the chaotic cinematic universe of the Coens, where violent acts inevitably have devastating, unintended consequences." "The remarkable gallery of those Coen characters is all here: hard-boiled gangster Tom Reagan from Miller's Crossing, overmatched amateur kidnapper Jerry Lundegaard from Fargo, accidental private eye "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski, psychopathic assassin-for-hire Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men, and more." "In examining a body of work that includes thrillers, mysteries, film noir, gangster movies, and westerns, The Brothers Coen offers film lovers a fresh take on the working relationship of the Coen brothers - and a new understanding of the rogues gallery they bring to the screen."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.