Film Stills

O Brother Where Art Thou?

Similarly to Blood Simple there are a lot of memorable moments. Here are a few that really interest me. 

Film Stills

Blood Simple 

Four of my favourite scenes from Blood Simple, more so due to the visual aesthetics than the content. Two i would consider location settings and the other two set creation.

Coen Brothers Book

Here are a few page scans of information that i feel is very valuable. I felt that it would be very naive of me to not look into the background of how some scenes were created. 

These two scans show two of the many pages i have scanned in and related to film stills within my sketchbook. 

 These two pages outline the difficulties that the Coen's faced went through finding a location for O Brother. One very specific problem was the colour of the foliage. They were going for a desaturated dry and dusty Texas but unfortunately had to shoot in the lush green surroundings of Mississippi 

Contemplation

Initial Research

After pushing myself to pick a specific Coen Brothers film i found myself swaying between 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' and 'Blood Simple'. So instead of making an irrational decision i decided to undertake more research into both films, fully aware that this would cause more work for myself. I bought a book simply titled 'Coen Brothers' by Eddie Robson, which i found very useful. It evaluates every possible aspect of each film from where the initial concept came from too who created the soundtrack. 

After reading this book it's become apparent that the close family relationship doesn't stop with the brothers. A lot of the actors are featured in more than one film. Furthermore Carter Burwell first worked with the Coen's as a soundtrack producer and as a result has worked on every film they have created since then. The Coens' seem to be very faithful to their employes. 

Lives and Work of the Coen Brothers

Ethan and Joel Coen (From left to right)

After researching into the lives of the Coen brothers, i was interested to find that their passion for film making had not been influenced by their parents. Their father studied in London to achieve a qualification in economics and their mother became a professor of art history and even then Joel mentions that he never once remembers his mother taking them to an art museum.
Joel and Ethan were not always as close as they are today. Joel has said that the three years difference in age was really what initially pushed them apart, however it was only after leaving school that they really got to know each other. They began mowing lawns for pocket money after Joel had suggest they bought a Super-8 camera to experiment with their own reproduction of old movies.
Evidently Joel went to study film at the New York University in 1977 where as Ethan went to Princeton University to study Philosophy however he has described his attitude to the course as 'casual' as he never really knew what he wanted to do. While Joel had graduated and began looking for work, Ethan had moved to New York working as a typist which taught him key skills for his writing career.
During this time, the brothers re-ignited their creative partnership and began writing scripts for other people which implanted the possibility of creating their own movies. The first being 'Blood Simple' in 1984.

In terms of their work, its endless and ongoing, therefore it would be very difficult to discuss everything they have done.
In general terms the Coen brothers are known for growing up around filmmaking by soaking up all the information they possibly could, generally from the television right from the early stages of their career. On a whole Eddie Robson, Author of 'Coen Brothers' has said that 'they appear puzzled by the existence of critics and bemused by any attempt at an intellectual reading of their work.' They feel that journalists do nothing other than create a certain amount of words to fill a space.
There are also a few correlations that i have picked up after watching a variety of their films. Firstly many of their films tend to include the same actors, i feel this puts across a close and personal relationship within their career, reinforcing the aspect of a family project.
Secondly Eddie Robson has also mentioned that the original music of all their movies, up to 2003, are all written by Carter Burwell, 'whether on his own or in collaboration with others'.
Lastly Ethan Coen has said that they 'tend to do period stuff' which is why their first 9 films have been set in the twentieth century and of course situated in their home country, America. Again reinforcing my above statement of a close family nit community.

No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men, written and directed by both Joel and Ethan Coen in 2007 is a film about violence and mayhem set in 1980 rural Texas. The story grabs you right from the start as one of the main characters Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is standing within a barren landscape watching the thick clouds cover the ground like a blanket while he hunts for deer. He then stumbles across a murder scene where by many Mexican men had been shot. As Llewelyn explores further he realised one of the men are still alive, however he coldly shrugs it off leaving with only his gun. As he explored the area further he comes across a lone man, again murdered, but this time with a briefcase full of money. At ease he takes the money and makes he way home.

From this point forward things become a bit difficult for him. He sleeps restlessly and decided to return to help the wounded man but gets chassed off and shot by what i can only assume are poachers. He decides that he should send his wife away to safety while he runs away with the stolen money.

Meanwhile we are introduced to another main character, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who’s main attribute is murdering innocent civilians on the hunt for Llwewlyn and the money.

We as the audience become confused when Anton always manages to find Llewelyn until it comes to light that there is a tracker in the case of money. When they finally meet there is a 'shoot off' where both become injured then going off to seek medical attention. Shortly after they share a phone conversation when Anton threatens to kill Llewelyn's wife if he fails to bring him the money. Not long after this we are shown Llewelyn murdered on the floor around others which i find very disappointing after such a long chase as we are not shown the point in which they meet or how he was killed. 

At this point in the film i feel that the story line takes a nose dive. The suspense that we have felt throughout the whole film for Llewelyn is just ruined. Anton visits Llewelyn's wife but we are not shown what happens to her. Anton drives off and gets dramatically hit by a car and manages to walk off almost unharmed and the film ends with one of the sherifs who has been chasing Anton retiring. I found this very disappointing as the whole film builds up to what you expect will be a spectacular ending but instead your just left with loads of lose ends. 

Although i didn't think much of the storyline, there were part in the film that inspired me for this project. 

5 minutes in there was a beautiful scene where the main character stands at a great hight looking over the landscape which is being sculpted by the clouds. 

56 minutes in Llewelyn is sitting in an old hotel room lit by only one light. This scene really reminds me of the work by Francoise Laroix and i would love to recreate this scene.

141 minutes though there is a dramatic scene where the sherif enters a house and his shadow is projected on the the wall. 

And lastly 148 minutes through, Anton is sat in Llewelyn's wife's house right back in the corner with only window light over his knees emphasising his power and mystery.  

The Man Who Wasn't There

This black and white film directed by Joel Coen in 2001, set in 1949 is a film with a very similar story line to that of the film i previously watched, 'Blood Simple'. Again this film is filled with murder and adultery right from the outset which directs the rest of the film. The main character, Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) works as a barber in his brother in laws barber shop with aspirations to go into business with a client setting up a dry cleaning business. He suspects his wife, Doris Crane (Frances McDorman) is having an affair with their friend Big Dave (James Gandolfini). He then cunningly decides to get revenge by blackmailing him for ten thousand dollars. He gets his money and puts it straight into the dry cleaning business only to never hear from Creighton again as he was suspected to be the blackmailer. When Big Dave finally works out the blackmailer was actually Ed they begin fighting when Ed murders Dave. Accusations fly again when Dorris is arrested with the murder of Big Dave forcing Ed again to raise as much money as possible to hire the best solicitor to get her out. However it seems that she become slightly mentally insane and just before her hearing she commits suicide. While this is happening Ed also spends a lot of time at a friends house listing to a young talented girl play the piano. He becomes attached to this girl and decides she deserves the best chance at being able to play the piano professionally. The young girl, Birdy (Scarlett Johansson) gets the wrong impression from Ed and decides to repay him with sexual favours causing a rather comical car accident. This surprised me as the Coen Brothers have never been shy of creating dramatic and brutal scenes and this scene reminded me of something from a cartoon with spinning camera angles and a single hub cap rolling across the floor. The film ends when Ed is accused of murdering Creighton and faces the electric chair. I guess it could be considered unjust as he didn't actually commit the crime, but he did murder Dave therefore receiving the same punishment.

Similarly to many of their other films, this one is exploding with creative lighting techniques highlighting many formal elements making it inspiring. As for the film itself i did find it difficult to withhold my concentration as i felt it was very slow going throughout. The main character Ed said very little and when he spoke, he spoke very slowly whereas all the other male characters spoke extremely quickly making it hard to follow. I cant see my self wanting to watch the film again however there were parts that influenced me throughout.
13m- Ed is silhuetted to his wife who is in the bath making him seem less significant.
18.20m- Doris is sat in front of her vanity mirror being lit from the side by a window.
24m- Birdy playing the piano being lit by a lap by her side.
54m- Blindes move creating shadows over the face.
1:05m- The solicitor stands in some light within the prison and switches between being silhouetted and in the light beams.
1:18m- Completely alone of the sofa, creates a ghostly atmosphere.