Applying a quintessentially British mix of dry wit and black humour to all their work from the impossibly noir Blood Simple to the wonderful The Big Lebowski, Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted often hysterically funny, startlingly unpredictable and surprisingly moving reworkings of the crime genre. Being careful not to reveal too much of the plot, or to destroy the humour, Cheshire and Ashbrook tackle recurrent themes including family, dreams, religion, references to the work of Stanley Kubrick and shoes(!) with dry wit and erudition. So as well as in-depth analysis of the different characters, we have explorations of the homosexual elements in both Miller's Crossing and The Big Lebowski, and the hints of potential incest in the latter and Raising Arizona. Images of heaven and hell that run throughout their work, particularly in Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy are also dissected. Surprisingly, there currently exists only one other book on the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen, by Peter Korte and Georg Seesslen. This sometimes very quirky and frequently controversial analysis marks a much needed addition to the field and has enough enthusiasm to delight fans and possibly win a few converts. -Stephen Portlock

Book Description

The revised and updated edition of this pocket-guide to perhaps the finest filmmakers working in America today. Features an introductory essay on the Coens along with an analysis and discussions of each of their films, including a consideration of their latest works Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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4.0 out of 5 stars At this price, no complaints about minor flaws..., 26 Jul 2000

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Co-authored works frequently end up a mangled wreck of mis-matched styles and ideas. Here, the only problem seems to be an occasional lack of consensus over precisely where commas should go in sentence construction. The writers seem to have merged their approaches into a single healthy union, spattered with flashes of humour (only occasionally ruined by superfluous exclaimation marks), and mostly intelligent analysis. Despite frequently far-fetched ideas (the Dude is the Big Lebowski's long-lost son? - hmmm...) that are often carried to absurd lengths of little more than speculation, they certainly give a bit extra to think about on re-watching the films yet again.

At this price, most Coen fans are going to pick it up anyway (it's well worth it for the "Trivia" sections alone), and for the Coenetically-challenged, it could make an easy introduction to the constantly recurring themes of their uniformly fantastic movies.

My only real question is: "has anyone else noticed the huge number of similarities between 'Hi' (Nicholas Cage's character in 'Raising Arizona') and 'Sailor' (Cage's character in David Lynch's 'Wild at Heart')? This is one point that the authors miss which I for one would like to see explored further.

Other than that, a good read. I have Ashbrook's book on Terry Gilliam sitting beside me to read now, and will be intrigued to see how he handles such a similar subject on his own, especially so soon after the revelations of "Gilliam on Gilliam" have answered so many questions in such an entertaining style.

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