February 12, 2012

The Coen Brothers: Still Burning with Creativity

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published September 12, 2008

For almost 25 years, Joel and Ethan Coen have remained the quirkiest and most original moviemaking team on the planet. The brothers have dabbled in an array of genres: From romantic comedies (Intolerable Cruelty) to mob movies (Miller’s Crossing) and private detective stories (The Big Lebowski), they’ve virtually done it all, with their trademark dark wit always intact. Their latest endeavor, following the Oscar-winning No Country For Old Men, is the outrageous comedy-thriller Burn After Reading. Before heading to theaters to see the much-anticipated movie, which premiered this past week at the Toronto International Film Festival, spend some time with MM reviewing some of their most beloved work.

Blood Simple (1984)

The Coens’ made an auspicious debut with this grisly, darkly funny film noir. A jealous bar owner (Dan Hedaya) hires a private investigator (M. Emmet Walsh) to kill his cheating wife (Frances McDormand) and the man she’s sleeping with. What first appears to be a simple plan becomes increasingly more complicated as double-crossing, a case of mistaken identity and much bloodshed ensues. With its stylish camerawork, ingenious plot twists and vivid performances—including Frances McDormand in her film debut and M. Emmet Walsh as the sleaziest private detective of all time—Blood Simple still stands as a neo-noir classic and one of the best films in the Coen brothers oeuvre. As Ann Hornaday in The Baltimore Sun said, “Blood Simple is a reminder of how rarely an original artistic sensibility is announced to the world and how much better movies are when that sensibility is allowed to keep going its own way.”