Film review of The Coen brothers

Film review

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The Coen brothers are some of Hollywood’s most dependable directors. For 25 years the two brothers have written, directed and produced fourteen films. In 2012 they won an Oscar award for the best picture with ‘No Country For Old Men’ (Bergan, 22)(Robson, 12) . Films directed and produced by Coen Brothers are ‘A Serious Man’ and ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’. A Serious Man is a comedy film produced in 2009 that features Michael Stuhlbarg as a Jewish man whose life crumbles both personally and professionally hence causing him to question his faith. The second film produced in 2001, The Man Who Wasn’t There is a black and white neo-noir film set in 1949 in Santa Rosa California.The film’s theme is alienation a theme brought out through Big Dave who became alienated from his wife. Big Dave is abducted by aliens and is blackmailed by Ed a barber who wants to own a dry cleaning business.

Film review involves identifying and analysing various elements of a film which include; theme or motif, plot, setting, and stylistic devices. The discussion will involve analysing the plot of the two films, A Serious Man and A Man Who Wasn’t There, both produced by Coen Brothers. The purpose or meaning of the films will be brought out through explanatory synthesis, comparative analysis, and quantitative analysis (Coen-Ethan, 42).

In 1967 North Central state of the United States of America Minnesota, Larry Gopkin a physics professor husband to Judith gets an abrupt message from his wife that she wants to file for a divorce so that she can marry Sy Ableman. Larry and Judith have two children, Danny and Sarah; also living with the family is Larry’s brother Arthur who has no job and spends most of his time on the couch drafting occult symbols trying to define the universe. Danny owes money to an intimidating Hebrew schoolmate after buying marijuana from the schoolmate. Sarah on the other hand spends most of her time doing her hair.

With a pending vote for a permanent office, the head of department slips information that anonymous notes have been sent to the committee asking it to deny him the affirmative vote. Another professional constraint comes in when Clive Park a failing student in his class steps into his office arguing that he should not fail. Larry finds an envelope stashed with cash after Clive leaves the office. When he attempts to return the money, Clive’s father threatens to sue Larry for defamation or for pocketing the money if he does not give his son passing grades (Coen-Ethan, 42).

On the other hand apart from professional downfalls, his personal life also takes a wrong turn. Judith and Sy kick Larry and his brother out of the house and after the divorce Larry is left penniless. Arthur faces sodomy and solicitation charges. Larry is on the verge of losing his mind hence he turns to the Jewish leaders for help. However, none of the leaders offer much help and the synagogue senior is never available. He reaches his breaking point when he is involved in a car accident but survives while his brother also gets involved in a car accident and dies.

Larry pays for Arthur’s funeral and is proud of Danny’s bar mitzvah. Judith apologizes during the service for the negative turn of events in Larry’s life; she informs him that Sy likes him and that he wrote to the committee based on Larry’s tenure. The senior Rabbi counsels Danny to do good things and to be a good person. Larry receives the tenure and on top of that, a large sum of money from his brother’s criminal lawyer. Larry is summoned by his doctor over a chest X-ray results while Danny’s school is hit by a hurricane (Coen-Ethan, 42).

The plot summary above reflects the lives of many people in the United States. Through critical analysis of the series of events divorce as a major social issue in America is brought out, cases of corruption in schools and children getting involved with drug abuse. A quantitative analysis of the events in Larry’s life the film displays how difficult and depressing life can be with sequential bad events occurring.

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‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ a film set in Santa Rosa California in the year 1949 features Ed Crane a barber husband to Doris a book keeper. The bookstore is owned by Big Dave whom Ed suspects is having an affair with his wife. Creighton Tolliver, a customer, wants investors with about ten thousand dollars to invest in the dry cleaning business. To get the money Ed decides to blackmail Big Dave. Big Dave opens his heart to Ed oblivious of Ed’s plan informing him that he is being blackmailed and asks for his opinion; Ed advises Big Dave to pay the money (Coen-Ethan, 34).

Ed receives the ten thousand and delivers it to Tolliver. Big Dave calls Ed and unknown to him, Big Dave had found out that Ed was the Blackmailer. Tolliver had previously approached Big Dave with the same offer but he turned it down. Finding it to be too much of a fluke Big Dave beats information out of Tolliver and when he finds out that Tolliver is innocent his second guess was Ed. Once Ed arrived at the Nirdlinger’s Big Dave confronted him by strangling Ed, Ed takes a knife and drives it through Big Dave’s throat killing him. Doris becomes aware that her secret is out and she is accused of committing murder. Ed hires an expensive lawyer to represent him in court; he uses money from a bank to pay the lawyer with his brother-in-law’s barber shop as security (Coen-Ethan, 34).

Big Dave’s wife is convinced that Doris did not commit the crime and she shares information with Ed, Doris, and the lawyer that when she and her husband were camping last summer Big Dave got abducted by aliens. Ann (Big Dave’s wife) thinks that her husband’s death was part of a government conspiracy to hide the events of that day. Ed confesses that he committed the crime but the lawyer does not believe him. During her first trial Doris hangs herself in the jail cell and an autopsy reveals that she was pregnant. On the other hand Ed is seeing his friend’s teenage daughter who they get involved in a car accident with. When Ed wakes up in hospital two policemen inform him that he is under arrest for the murder of Big Dave. With no money he hires a local lawyer who advises him to plead guilty with the hope that the court will sympathise with him but contrary to his notion, the judge puts him on death row. Ed writes down the events while in his cell awaiting his death sentence; he wasn’t sorry for his actions but was for the suffering he caused others (Coen-Ethan, 34).

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Through the plot summary, contemporary issues such as corruption and homicides are brought out. Through the series of events the film shows that one’s greediness can bring about life crisis to others. Alienation which is the theme of the film is also reflected in the plot of the film, Ed is left by his wife, Ann is left by her husband and Ed’s life is a complicated one.

The two films reviewed above are a reflection of how the human life is and the consequences of our action. Through the plot we learn more about the film and its significance.

References

A serious man. Dir. Ethan Coen. Perf. Larry Gopkin. Universal, 2010. DVDBergan, Ronald. The Coen brothers. New York, NY: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2000. Print.Coen, Ethan, and Joel Coen. A serious man. London: Faber and Faber, 2009. Print.The man who wasn’t there. Dir. Ethan Coen. Perf. Ed, Big Dave, Doris, Tolliver. Universal, 2002. DVD.Coen, Ethan, and Joel Coen. The man who wasn’t there. London: Faber and Faber, 2001. Print.Robson, Eddie. Coen brothers. London: Virgin Books, 2003. Print.