The Coen Brothers Nail Old Men

By Mallory Potosky
URL: http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/the_coen_brothers_nail_iold_men_i_20071109/
It all started with Blood Simple back in 1984, when Joel and Ethan Coen showed the world that two moviemakers are better than one. Well, these two anyway. The movie landed three nominations and two wins at the Independent Spirit Awards two years later and the legacy began. In the years following, the Coen brothers, as they are affectionately referred to, would produce some of independent cinema’s most memorable scenes—and movies. After Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter abducted a child yet somehow landed laughs in 1987's Raising Arizona, the brothers found themselves striking gold with a string of critical (and sometimes popular) hits, including Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy and 1996's Fargo.

Since landing a Best Writing Oscar statuette for their unique take on Midwestern values and awkward conversation in Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen released movies unfortunately lesser received than their predecessors (the exceptions being the Oscar-nominated movies O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Man Who Wasn't There—grand exceptions for sure). However, it is with this month's No Country for Old Men that the brothers seem to have regained the audience anticipation they inspire in so many.