The Coen Brothers, Second EditionBrought completely up to date, this insightful biography remains "a must for any self-respecting Coen fan" (Screentrade). This fully updated edition of the first biography of the Coen Brothers includes their complete work so far, from Blood Simple to Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), with a reassessment of their remarkable career as a whole. Joel and Ethan Coen have pulled off the ultimate balancing act. Despite having their movies financed and distributed by major studios, they have managed to remain true independents, rejecting commercial clichés and never giving up on their own fiercely idiosyncratic vision. While doing so, they have established themselves among the world's leading filmmakers. From their startling debut, Blood Simple (1984), all of their movies reveal a distinctive stamp: a flamboyant visual style, richly conceived characters, crisp dialogue, and brilliant casting. They have revitalized old Hollywood genres such as noir, screwball, and the western, giving them a contemporary sensibility. In this biography, Ronald Bergan traces the brothers' Jewish roots, their beginnings as film geeks in suburban Minneapolis, their battle to get their first feature made and released, through their early features and the movies of their maturity. He gives blow-by-blow accounts of the making of each movie. New chapters cover all those released since O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), with which the first edition of this book ended. |
From inside the book
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... What I particularly admired, and what interests me in most art, was the allusiveness and intertextuality of their films. They were especially aware that their films came after more than seventy years of cinema history, and they paid ...
... What I particularly admired, and what interests me in most art, was the allusiveness and intertextuality of their films. They were especially aware that their films came after more than seventy years of cinema history, and they paid ...
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... what I saw as a detrimental move into the mainstream. But this was only measured by the highest standards that they had set themselves. Nevertheless, I was confident, given Joel and Ethan's singular talents and track record, that ...
... what I saw as a detrimental move into the mainstream. But this was only measured by the highest standards that they had set themselves. Nevertheless, I was confident, given Joel and Ethan's singular talents and track record, that ...
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... What a coup! Joel couldn't have timed it better. The tragic event happened just as I was completing my biography and wondering how to end it. There is never much problem in the cases where the subjects are dead, but with the living it ...
... What a coup! Joel couldn't have timed it better. The tragic event happened just as I was completing my biography and wondering how to end it. There is never much problem in the cases where the subjects are dead, but with the living it ...
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... what that meant, and he says you got two selves, one that you know about and the other that you don't know about, because it's subconscious. It shook me up. Did I really do it and not know it? The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M ...
... what that meant, and he says you got two selves, one that you know about and the other that you don't know about, because it's subconscious. It shook me up. Did I really do it and not know it? The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M ...
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... what biographers want is to enter the minds of their subjects, not literally, as in the Spike Jonze film Being John Malkovich, but in a figurative sense. “I want you to enter my mind,” says cartoonist George Sanders to his “ghost” Bob ...
... what biographers want is to enter the minds of their subjects, not literally, as in the Spike Jonze film Being John Malkovich, but in a figurative sense. “I want you to enter my mind,” says cartoonist George Sanders to his “ghost” Bob ...
Contents
The Brothers Geek | |
First Blood | |
Hi Stakes VI Double Crossing | |
Hollywood Nuts | |
Yah Yah | |
Cool Dudes | |
Odd Odyssey | |
James M Coen | |
Intolerable Hollywood Bowel Syndrome | |
Blood Complex | |
A Comedy of Errors | |
A Good | |
CapraCoen | |
Common terms and phrases
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