re: Coen Brothers Movies

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My favorite. A real Sophie’s choice between it and NCFOM, but fargo wins out for me in the end. I’ve watched it once every winter since it came out.

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I think it wins out because some movies the Coen's are crime serious and some movies they are about comedy.

Fargo balances both perfectly into one movie.

You get the serious crime drama with violence (blood has been shed Jerry, blood has been shed) with the humor.

No one talks about A Serious Man, but I really enjoyed it. If the Coen dialogue thing is your thing, watch it.

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The Coen Brothers were one of the handful of filmmakers that made me want to get into filmmaking. Miller’s Crossing and Raising Arizona were huge influences. Eventually got to work with then on O’ Brother.

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You still in the business? If so, in what capacity? I’ve been on quite a few film sets and understand how big and spread out they can be. Were you close enough to get a feel for the dynamic of how Joel and Ethan work together?

I’ve always been curious about that, whether or not they fall into particular roles on set, if one is one more hands on than the other, who makes the final decisions, or if they’re just totally in sync as collaborators. I’ve done shorts with best friends and nothing really on the line, and we almost killed each other. I can’t imagine working with my brother for close to 40 years with $100 million(ish) at stake and not having it fricked up at least a Thanksgiving or 2.

I probably like The Big Lebowski more than any others, but can admit it’s not their best and would be hard-pressed to find a “right” spot for it in an Top 5 or 10 list. So, I’ll omit it and go:

Fargo

No Country

Miller’s Crossing

Raising Arizona

Barton Fink