so goddamn creepy rewatched it with my wife this weekend.

 

Mike Leigh's Naked with David Thewlis from 1993. highly recommended if you are in mood for dark comedy/drama (and for some Manchester accent). The script was largely created by improvisation during 11 weeks of rehearsal before shooting. The script was only 25 pages long.

from imdb: Johnny flees Manchester for London, to avoid a beating from the family of a girl he has raped. There he finds an old girlfriend, and spends some time homeless, spending much of his time ranting at strangers, and meeting characters in plights very much like his own.




I found out about this movie through The Orb's track S.A.L.T. from Orblivion album who used sample from this movie (The Mark Of The Beast scene...amazing dialog)

found it on youtube in full and watched it again. big thanks to uploader.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwzvAt84P8

No Country was a creepy show, but it really didn't seem very "Coen-y" to me, lack of humor and snappy dialog. It just seemed like a good adaption of the book. What the hell is Cormac up to these days, the racist old bastard?

That Mike Leigh is fantastic, thanks for the link.

It wasn't very Coen-y in the normal sense. But they were on an adaptation kick for a while, with No Country and True Grit. I think they wanted to fuck around with more traditional film making. I think it's a great movie. Great acting, great cinematography, great pacing... Almost Hitchcockian at times. A real classic. Better than the book, in my opinion.

But my favorite Coen Bros. films are the ones that pack the black comedic punch (Fargo, Barton Fink) or the pure absurdity of Burn After Reading and O Brother. Their style is so unique that I can't help but think their talents are a bit wasted on non-originals. But No country was stellar.

Have you seen Hail Caesar? Not their best, but still pretty good. One of my favorites is Millers Crossing, especially the dialog.

i love this film. its absolutely in my all time best list

Miller's Crossing is fucking AMAZING. That was my favorite film EVER for years. I was going through a bit of a "gangster" phase, (in other words, pretty much a Scorcese, Coppola, early Tarantino phase), and being Irish I particularly loved that film. Best Irish mob film ever. God, Albert Finney as Leo in that fucking movie... electric! That scene with the cigar (you know the one, I'm sure) ... Just wow.

Now I think I prefer Fargo and Barton Fink. But Miller's Crossing is up there. Underrated. A classic.

No, I haven't seen Hail Caesar! I heard so-so things about it. I kind of lost track of the Coens around the time they made Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers (yikes). I got back into them in '07 and '08 with No Country and Burn After Reading, but A Serious Man SUCKED to me, and I think I need to rewatch it because everyone else loved that ... Thing. I liked True Grit, but didn't even try to watch Inside Llewyn Davis (kinda want to though.) Anyway, point is I haven't really kept up hardcore since Big Lebowski and O Brother.

But I read about Hail Caesar! and it sounds like "my kind of Coens."

Yeah, it is pretty extrordinary. I think the Javier Bardem's performance in this film is one of the three best male screen performances of 200-2009. Just below Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight, and Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood.

^ three times Oscar got it right.

Also, No Country for Old Men certainly deserved that Best Picture Oscar. More than any film in recent memory. I would have been happy with TWBB winning, but No Country is a cinematic achievement. Might not be "Classic Coens" like Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo, Lebowski, etc. But it's a masterpiece nonetheless.

You guys wanna weigh in on a strange "classic dilemma" question that's been rattling around in my head for about 20 years now?

COEN BROS.
vs.
TARANTINO

I don't know exactly why I've always compared the two. Maybe it started with Fargo being declared "this year's Pulp Fiction" on the VHS box in 1997. Maybe it's something else. But both are definitely outside-the-box indie-film auteurs who've gained international acclaim for their crime stories, weird ass characters, artistic appreciation for violence done right, etc.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. To me it seems as natural as comparing Ridley Scott and James Cameron back in the '80s and '90s. But maybe I'm just crazy.

its funny you mentioned There Will Be Blood that is another masterpiece i was just randomly thinking about. damn it do i love every minute of that film

i think coen brothers get the nod as better film makers but i think Tarantino could win it for Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown alone. however if we went item by item on the filmography of Coen bros vs Tarantino i think overall they have a larger body of quality films. in many respects i think No Country.. is their best work

i liked seven psychopaths but its not a flick you can watch repeatedly.

Yeah, me too. Gives me chills every time. It's Paul Thomas Anderson's best film. And Daniel Day Lewis just killed it. That guy is a motherfuckin' actor. But that's not news. He's been killing it since My Left Foot and In The Name of the Father. I wish he took on more rolls though.

From a cinematic perspective, Blood reminds me a lot of Dark Knight. A lot of it has to be the ambient guitar drone, but it's also the way the shots are set up, the way tension builds, and the story moves along. TWBB is dark as hell, and extremely sinister, and its pacing reminds me of TDK.

I am a Coen Bros fan from the way back. However, I did not enjoy Oh Brother where art thou one bit. I found it corny, stupid, and nostalgic in the worst possible way. fuck that sepia toned bullshit movie.

Hail Ceasar was not great but fun, but it is a love story to old Hollywood filmmaking. every shot and character is an homage to the old 30's-40's Hollywood films. if you do not like those films or have a familiarity with them you will not enjoy Hail Ceasar Salad.

and I was bored by There will be blood. I turned it off about 1 hour in and could give fuck to watch the rest of it. Just did not care.

I certainly wasn't as impressed with There Will Be as many others. I thought the story was poorly done at the end. Daniel Day is pretty great, though the Last of Mohicans is a great Sat afternoon popcorn movie.

You may need to rewatch A Serious Man, I think it's pretty autobiographical. Inside Llyewyn is like it, better on the 2nd time around.

Why's that? I've only seen it once, and haven't been moved to see it again, but I'm curious why you think this is the case.

You are an odd duck, Rob.

I didn't like O Brother Where Art Though when I first saw it. It took a while. I really warmed to it once I learned that it was based on The Odyssey though. I had to have that story in mind to appreciate it.

And you know, it's supppsed to be corny as fuck. It really is. The sneaky thing about the Coens is the way they can create an utterly absurd little film and then pepper it with deeply disturbing and unsettling moments, like the KKK scene, and the other bit with Johm Goodman's "Cyclops" character. Just comes out of nowhere... much like the ending of Barton Fink, which is without question one of the most fucked up endings in the history of film.

The Coens claimed early on that their desire was to make films in every genre. I did not like whatever genre they saw Oh Brother Where art thou as. I also HATED that shit ass soundtrack. fuck that shit.

There will be... felt like I was watching an "important" movie but not an entertaining movie.