Director: Joel Coen
Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Holly Hunter
Have I Seen It Before: Sure, but I’ll admit I’ve probably listened to the soundtrack album more than I’ve seen the film.
Did I Like It: It’s hard to find anything critical to say about a Coen Brothers film. Even their less successful entries, it feels like the problem lies with us.
It’s also difficult—or probably should be—to review a movie just based on the moment in which I’m watching it, but plenty of reviews review the experience, and I should get to every once in a while, too.
After a week of the flu, I stayed away from the movie theater, which is a little bit like one of you avoiding sleep for the better part of a week. I’m in that awkward phase of the sickness where I’m not contagious, but there’s still a deep well of phlegm that my lungs occasionally feel the need to try and expel. I’m still not going to a lot of things I wasn’t already obligated to, but these tickets—with a Q&A beforehand from Nelson and cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins—had long been on the agenda.
There’s something about an exquisitely crafted film—funny, energetic, and deeply felt—that I can enjoy in a theater after a little bit of time away from those wonderful darkened rooms.
The magic is amplified. The Nicole Kidman in all of us is let loose*. And for about as long as my lungs had any capacity to allow, I was able to ignore the need to cough for the better part of two hours. I existed out of the already odious year 2026. I was outside of the theater. I was with the Soggy Bottom Boys.
*Even if I would prefer it if she was shilling for any other group of movie theaters.