O Brother, Where Art Thou? review : Different, funny, bizarre
(First published in 2000)
This is an unorthodox comedy, which I found very refreshing. It’s written and directed by the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) who are renowned for being dark and surreal. Here they’ve supplied a diluted and commercial version of their unique style, which should make them accessible to a bigger audience than before.
I first came across the Coen brothers in the film Barton Fink, which starred John Goodman (Roseanne and the Borrowers) and is one very weird but fascinating film. O Brother Where Art Thou also features John Goodman in a fairly small but unforgettable role. The Coen brothers obviously like him a lot because he’s in at least three of their films that I know of. In fact, all of the Coen brother films I have seen so far have the same several actors that keep cropping up.
George Clooney has the unlikely lead role in this movie and although playing it very well, he finds it difficult to look ugly enough to blend in with the rest of the cast. The Coen brothers have a fondness for larger than life and outrageous characters with unorthodox faces and this film is full of them. Many of the characters are very over the top and unusual. At times they border on the grotesque.
This film is set in the Southern State of Mississippi in the 1930s and revolves around three chain gang convicts who escape still chained together. George Clooney has the gift of the gab and his two accomplices (Tim Blake Nelson and Michael Badalucco) are as thick as they come. This combination produces laugh after laugh and George Clooney’s lines are delightfully embroidered and cleverly written.
The three men set off in search of over a million Dollars in “treasure” that Clooney promises them a share of. Unfortunately, it is buried in a valley that is due to be flooded to create a dam in four days time. This is where their adventures start and it is all you need to know about the plot other than it is very different, and very funny.
One scene features a mass gathering of the Klu Klux Clan - which was prevalent in those days - in which a “negro” was to be hanged. The whole scene (which could be slightly distasteful or uncomfortable for some) is presented in a surreal way. The hooded leader sings an almost comical song to the rhythmic chanting of the amassed (also hooded) Klu Klux Clan, it made the whole scene strangely disturbing and is typical of the Coen brothers style.
It has to be remembered that the film is rated 12, and is a comedy, so there is nothing shocking to see, but the way they shot the whole scene made the Clan seem very sinister in a non-conventional way.
This is an excellent film that I may well be watching again very soon. George Clooney even does a bit of singing and it’s dubbed so well it’s hard to believe it isn’t his voice.
I enjoyed listening to people’s comments on the way out of the cinema as they’d obviously been surprised - and pleasantly surprised at that. I heard one woman say how much she’d enjoyed it and pausing for a moment she decided on the word “bizarre,” to describe it. You should to see Barton Fink I chuckled to myself.
Written by Andy(ArT)Trigg on April 14th, 2008 with
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