Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Geoff Carter
From their very first production, the quirky genre-bending thriller, Blood Simple, to their latest film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an anthology of short films simultaneously deifying and lampooning the Western genre, the Coen Brothers have made films that are—to say the very least—unpredictable.
Their stories have championed the stories of the most unlikely of heroes: escaped convicts, gunslingers, revolutionaries, artists, gangsters, folksingers, and even the laziest man in the world—the dude. Some of their films are bonafide cult classics. Others are probably well on their way. Coen Brother movies offer slices of life that are in turn poignant, mysterious, gripping, hilarious, surprising, and outlandish—but never, ever, ever predictable. The stories typically leave the average viewer filled with questions, such as…
What’s in the box on the beach at the end of Barton Fink? What really happened at the end/beginning of Inside Llewyn Davis? What became of Hi and Ed at the end of Raising Arizona? What the hell was going on at the end of A Serious Man? Was that really a tornado?
Because their films defy easy categorization and characters like Barton Fink, Jeff Lebowski, and Marge Gunderson consistently confound audience expectations, Coen Brothers films are somewhat like life itself—sometimes beautiful, sometimes funny, sometimes absurd, sometimes violent, and sometimes tragic. But always interesting. The brothers are auteurs in every sense of the word. Each new project is a new excursion; they rarely—if ever—look back. Whether checking us into a seedy L.A. hotel, walking us through a Hollywood sound stage, or taking us on a stagecoach ride to nowhere, the Coen Brothers are constantly breaking new ground.
Barton Fink, Hail, Caesar!, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs are sly and not always so subtle critiques of the film industry—and art in general. Raising Arizona lampoons the middle-class norms of parenthood. Other films stretch genres until they become something else entirely. The Big Lebowski starts out as sort of a detective film but then morphs into the ultimate anti-hero saga filled with European villains, unlikely heroes, bowling fantasies, and very odd erotic dream sequences. And who is that drifter at the bar?
So, without further ado, the Couch Potato presents—in his humble opinion—the ten best Coen Brothers films.
The Coen Brothers’ Ten Best Movies
Fargo: Set in the dead of a Minnesota winter, this black comedy crime film focuses on a corrupt car salesman and his bungled plot to have his own wife kidnapped for the ransom money. During the crime a state trooper is shot and killed. Marge Gunderson (McDormand), an earnest, dedicated, and very pregnant sheriff, sets out to capture the killer. Underneath her pleasantly daffy veneer—a la Columbo—lies a cagey and shrewd cop. Also notable for Bill Macy’s hilarious depiction of Jerry Lundergaard, the spineless car salesman who sets the plot into motion.
Starring: Frances McDormand, Bill Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stromare, and Harvey Presnell. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Loosely based on classic tale of the Odyssey, this film follows three escaped convicts as they wend their way through the Depression-era South in search of a buried fortune known only to their leader, Ulysses McGill (George Clooney) who also has a mysterious hidden agenda. Along the way, the three cons encounter seductive singing Sirens, a megalomaniacal Cyclops (John Goodman) and a radio station owner who persuades them to record a song by singing into a coffee can. A delightfully hilarious romp through an impossibly absurd Southern landscape. Notable for its outstanding soundtrack featuring Alison Krauss.
Starring: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Charles Durning, and Holly Hunter. Written by Joel and Ethan Coen. Directed by Joel Conen.
Barton Fink: In this black comedy, Barton Fink (Jon Turturro) the author of a hit Broadway play, travels to Hollywood to try his hand at writing for the Hollywood studios, which he soon discovers is a far cry from the artistic ideals he thinks he lives by. Fink stays in a second-rate hotel to soak up some working man ambience and becomes friends with Charlie Meadows, who Barton soon discovers is much more than he seems. The film is also a wonderful send-up of the absurd machismo of the corporate world. Notable for a great performance by Goodman as the pleasantly surprising Charlie Meadows.
Starring: John Turturro, John Goodman, Tony Shalhoub, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, and John Mahoney. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Directed by Joel Coen.
Burn After Reading: In this somewhat dark screwball comedy, Linda Litzke (McDormand), a Washington D.C. health club worker, discovers what she believes is a CD containing top-secret information in the locker room, and convinced that it contains government secrets, attempts—with the help of her clueless co-worker (Brad Pitt)—to first blackmail the owner (John Malkovich) and then sell it to the Russians so she can pay for her cosmetic surgery. A zany and unexpectedly dark look at the intelligence community. Notable for a great comedic performance by George Clooney.
Starring: Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, and Richard Jenkins. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
The Big Lebowski: With a comic twist on the neo-noir genre, this film has become a cult classic. Bowling enthusiast and gifted slacker Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who calls himself “the dude” is attacked because of a case of mistaken identity. He visits the other Lebowski—a millionaire—in hopes of getting compensated but is thrown out. Shortly afterward, the dude is summoned back by Lebowski to help pay ransom for his kidnapped trophy wife. With his buddy Walter (John Goodman), a Vietnam veteran, Dude finds himself drawn into a web of greed, deceit, lasciviousness, idiocy, and ludicrousness. Notable for Bridges’ iconic performance as a man trying to get through with as little effort as possible.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, Ben Gazzara, and Julianne Moore. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
No Country for Old Men: Llewelyn (Josh Brolin), while hunting in the desert, stumbles across dozens of bodies—the remains of a drug deal gone very, very badly. Realizing what’s happened, Llewelyn looks around, finds a lot of drugs and even more money. He takes the cash, runs, but soon discovers he has been found out and is being pursued by a laconic sheriff, a retired military man, a group of Mexican cartel members, and a man named Chigurh, one of the most ruthlessly psychotic assassins in film history. Llewelyn is able to evade his pursuers—for a while. A vastly entertaining crime thriller featuring a great cast. Notable for the performance of Javier Bardem as Sugar, the relentless killer. Also notable for Tommy Lee Jones’ performance as an old-school lawman trying to make sense of the world.
Starring: Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly MacDonald, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Garrett Dillahunt, and Tess Harper. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Raising Arizona: In this black comedy, Hi (Nicholas Cage), a recidivist felon, and Ed (Holly Hunter), the cop who loves him, get married but are heartbroken to discover that they will be unable to have children. Undeterred and determined to start a family, Ed becomes fixated on the newly born Arizona quintuplets and—sure that the parents won’t miss one of the babies—convinces Hi to kidnap one. Afterwards, Hi is visited by a couple of old cellmates and finds himself tempted to reenter his old life of crime. Notable for Holly Hunter’s bravura comic performance as Ed.
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Trey Wilson, Frances McDormand, and Sam McMurray. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: An anthology film featuring six separate tales of the Old West. The first features a charmingly clueless gunslinging singing cowboy who runs into trouble that runs counter to every viewer expectation. An outlaw receives his comeuppance—twice—in the next feature. A traveling orator, a grizzled prospector, and a young woman making her way west are also featured, but the film’s final sequence, “The Mortal Remains”, has more of a Twilight Zone than an old Western vibe. In this work, the brothers twist and upend every expectation of this loved and respected genre—the good guys don’t always win, the bad guys don’t always lose, and loyalty is only a word. Notable for great acting. Tom Waits especially shines as a prospector so comfortable in Nature that he listens–and talks–to it.
Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Stephen Root, Liam Neeson, Harry Melling, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daily, and Saul Rubinek. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Miller’s Crossing: In a film that has been called one of best gangster movies ever, and with a plot as twisted as a piece of salt-water taffy, Tom (Gabriel Byrne), the right-hand man of gangster chief Leo, (Albert Finney) attempts to saving a friend’s life during a turf war by shrewdly playing one side against the other. Discovered, and then beaten up and thrown out by his boss, Leo, Tom goes to his rival, Caspar, who says that to earn his trust, Tom must kill Bernie (John Turturro), the man he originally tried to save. Instead of killing him, Tom fakes his death and lets Bernie go, but is ultimately betrayed. Notable for the incredible attempted assassination scene.
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Jon Polito, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, and Steve Buscemi. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Inside Llewyn Davis: In Greenwich Village during the early 1960’s, a young folksinger who is struggling to make it in the music business without a steady income or a place to live decides to hitchhike his way to Chicago for a record company audition. In a journey fraught by bad weather, odd characters, and disappointment, Davis is finally told by a record producer he is not suited to be a solo performer. The film ends as it begins, with Davis getting beaten up behind the club. The movie is an interesting depiction of the early New York City folk scene; according to the brothers, Davis’s character is a compilation of folk singers Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Dave Van Ronk, on whose autobiography is based. Notable as Oscar Isaac’s breakout role.
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garret Hedlund, Justin Timberlake, and F. Murray Abraham. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Honorable Mention
A Serious Man
Hail, Caesar
Blood Simple
The Hudsucker Proxy
True Grit
