O' Brother, Where Art Thou?
The season of light, apparently, is near the season once marked by a lone soldier, one Private Albert Gitchell, who, feeling unfit to be sent off to France, and there to be shot and gassed, checked himself into an Army hospital somewhere in Kansas, and in so doing, had his name indelibly writ large in the annals of infectious diseases. Grandpa Albert was Case Zero, the infection vector for the 1918 American Influenza Epidemic. A year later, 675,000 Americans had died of the "influence", the swiftly-mutating virus from common pigs or chickens. Now, while this may seem to be of no earthly use to you, I feel it germane to the cause at hand, because unlike so many Americans who checked out in 1918, I was able, through the miracles of denial, modern medicine and rental videos, to slog through the flu, and while I was unable to venture into the googolplexes for fear of spreading the misery - or perhaps coughing up a lung - suffered only the loss of viewing and reviewing about fourteen first-run and wholly disappointing (or so I'm told) moovies.
Having regained my full upright stature, I ventured forth amongst the public, braving further infection, to see "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", with George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter and Charles Durning. Written by ahem, Homer, screenplay adaptation by Ethan Coen, Directed by Joel Coen. MPAA rating PG-13 for some violence and language. Runtime 109 minutes.
I have only the slightest acquaintance with any Homer outside of The Simpsons, and having never actually read "The Odyssey", I thought what better way to get up to speed on the classics than with the Coen Brothers' Cliff Notes version, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" I was right. Not only do the Brothers Coen deliver on Homer, but they let you hum the tunes on the way out. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a vivid, slapstick tour through the South in the '30s. Homer or no, this is a moovie worthy of the brothers' reputation for quirky, kaleidoscopic vision. Joel Coen's direction carves mythic figures out of the small frogs, and drops us smack in the rocky stream of a siren song. You'll have to see for yourself. It's the kind of moovie that allows everyone to come away with something of their own. Well acted, if a bit over the top at times, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a worthy addition to the Coens' stable of monster moovies.
So...
George Clooney is Ulysses McGill, who, along with his chain-linked companions Pete and Delmar, (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) are high-tailing it away from a rock-breaking chain gang in Mississippi. Their goal is to rescue a hidden fortune in cash stashed by McGill before a TVA dammed river floods the hiding place forever. That, in a nutshell, is the moovie. Yeah, right.
On their way to the loot, the boys run up against sheriffs and bloodhounds, bounty-hunting cousins, a hand car oracle, the totally wrong kind of hair pomade, a guitar-player with a Faustian bargain, an incumbent Governor, a blind radio station owner, Baby Face Nelson, a one-eyed Bible salesman, an old fashioned Baptism and three girls singing seductively while washing out their dainty things in a quiet stream.
While this is happening, the boys become a radio singing sensation, one of the three becomes a toad, and they have to attend a Klan rally before having their sins forever expunged in a deluge.
Clear? I hope not. There is so much more here than the sum of its parts. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is just what it was meant to be - an odyssey - it meanders in fits and starts, picking up before it leaves off sometimes, but meets itself exactly at the end. I can't explain it, you'll have to see it for yourself.
George Clooney is a certifiable riot - he plays his Gable-esque lead so straight that it hurts - John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson are two just plain dumb and ugly types that are the perfect counterpoint to Clooney's bright white know-it-all con man. I'd give Nelson a Best Supporting statue with no argument at all. He's a perfect Delbert - a good hearted fall guy who has been spared the ravages of intelligence.
The entire moovie is peppered with hillbilly and bluegrass music, and has its share of "old-timey" Gospel. Banjos flail and simple harmonies prevail. I can't imagine a more fitting soundtrack. I'll probably have to imagine for a while though. It's been sold out everywhere I've looked.
Go see "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", if only so you can say you've seen a sublimely invented Klan rally that's half Busby Berkeley, half Wizard of Oz. You'll find my four cows on the roof, waiting patiently for you.
Having regained my full upright stature, I ventured forth amongst the public, braving further infection, to see "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", with George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter and Charles Durning. Written by ahem, Homer, screenplay adaptation by Ethan Coen, Directed by Joel Coen. MPAA rating PG-13 for some violence and language. Runtime 109 minutes.
I have only the slightest acquaintance with any Homer outside of The Simpsons, and having never actually read "The Odyssey", I thought what better way to get up to speed on the classics than with the Coen Brothers' Cliff Notes version, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" I was right. Not only do the Brothers Coen deliver on Homer, but they let you hum the tunes on the way out. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a vivid, slapstick tour through the South in the '30s. Homer or no, this is a moovie worthy of the brothers' reputation for quirky, kaleidoscopic vision. Joel Coen's direction carves mythic figures out of the small frogs, and drops us smack in the rocky stream of a siren song. You'll have to see for yourself. It's the kind of moovie that allows everyone to come away with something of their own. Well acted, if a bit over the top at times, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a worthy addition to the Coens' stable of monster moovies.
So...
George Clooney is Ulysses McGill, who, along with his chain-linked companions Pete and Delmar, (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) are high-tailing it away from a rock-breaking chain gang in Mississippi. Their goal is to rescue a hidden fortune in cash stashed by McGill before a TVA dammed river floods the hiding place forever. That, in a nutshell, is the moovie. Yeah, right.
On their way to the loot, the boys run up against sheriffs and bloodhounds, bounty-hunting cousins, a hand car oracle, the totally wrong kind of hair pomade, a guitar-player with a Faustian bargain, an incumbent Governor, a blind radio station owner, Baby Face Nelson, a one-eyed Bible salesman, an old fashioned Baptism and three girls singing seductively while washing out their dainty things in a quiet stream.
While this is happening, the boys become a radio singing sensation, one of the three becomes a toad, and they have to attend a Klan rally before having their sins forever expunged in a deluge.
Clear? I hope not. There is so much more here than the sum of its parts. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is just what it was meant to be - an odyssey - it meanders in fits and starts, picking up before it leaves off sometimes, but meets itself exactly at the end. I can't explain it, you'll have to see it for yourself.
George Clooney is a certifiable riot - he plays his Gable-esque lead so straight that it hurts - John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson are two just plain dumb and ugly types that are the perfect counterpoint to Clooney's bright white know-it-all con man. I'd give Nelson a Best Supporting statue with no argument at all. He's a perfect Delbert - a good hearted fall guy who has been spared the ravages of intelligence.
The entire moovie is peppered with hillbilly and bluegrass music, and has its share of "old-timey" Gospel. Banjos flail and simple harmonies prevail. I can't imagine a more fitting soundtrack. I'll probably have to imagine for a while though. It's been sold out everywhere I've looked.
Go see "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", if only so you can say you've seen a sublimely invented Klan rally that's half Busby Berkeley, half Wizard of Oz. You'll find my four cows on the roof, waiting patiently for you.
