- Barton Fink
Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has incited the same arguments that arise whenever a new Coen brothers film is released. Some critics consider the Coen brothers and their films mean spirited and misanthropic because they supposedly mock, punish, and judge their characters and, by proxy, the viewers. I find an inherent contradiction in such an argument—namely, it presupposes that movie characters are real people and are therefore exempt from “unfair” depictions. I’ve never bought into the notion that audiences should “empathize” or “root for” a character, mostly because characters are essentially a function of film construction—”rooting” for a protagonist is like “rooting” for editing or sound design, which strikes me as an aimless and illogical pursuit. Ultimately, “empathy” toward a character depends on a viewer’s willingness to meet the filmmaker at his or her level. This is particularly true of the Coen brothers and their films, which are often so subjective that it’s difficult to parse their humanist and sympathetic qualities.
- A Serious Man (2009) The story of Job rendered in midwestern terms and 70s ephemera. For all its apparent dread (not to mention its foreboding denouement), the film is easily the funniest film the Coens have ever made, particularly in the way it synthesizes popular culture with historic institutions. In his review, J.R. Jones points to the “intermingling of Judaic teaching and the Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow LP,” one of many playful conceits nestled among the narrative.
