... Don’t believe me? What about the Simpsons? Kids love it, adults love it – even students love it so much they are willing to stay in bed to 6pm just to make sure they don’t miss it
This is also the case with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, which on paper sounds like little more than a terrible, ... Read review
Only Joel and Ethan Coen, masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would dare ... more
nick the plotline of Homer'sOdysseyforO Brother, Where Art Thou?, their comic picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s Mississippi. Our wandering her...
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Putting their own unique spin on Homer's classic Odyssey O Brother Where Art Thou is ... more
another Coen brothers classic. In a Golden Globe winning performance George Clooney plays Ulysses Everett McGill a silver-tongued petty criminal who finds himsel...
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Putting their own unique modern-day spin on Homer's classic tale of 'The Odyssey', 'O ... more
Brother, Where Art Thou?' is another Coen Brothers' classic.Clooney plays Everett Ulysses McGill, a silver tongued, petty criminal who finds himself on the wrong end ...
Clooney plays Everett Ulysses McGill, a silver tongued petty criminal who finds himself on ... more
the wrong end of a chain gang in deepest Mississippi. Together with a clumsy duo of lame losers, simple minded Delmar and maladjusted Pete, he scams his way out off the chain gang and into the adventure of a lifetime as the three set off in search of a fortune in buried treasure... still shackled and hopelessly unprepared for the road ahead.
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: wonderfully made, great performances Disadvantages: perhaps a little slow for the thrill-hungry (but who cares about them, right?)
All the best art forms work on more than one level. No really, they do – it’s a broadness-of-appeal thing. Don’t believe me? What about the Simpsons? Kids love it, adults love it – even students love it so much they are willing to stay in bed to 6pm just to make sure they don’t miss it
This is also the case with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, which on paper sounds like little more than a terrible, terrible mess. Imagine approaching ... ...give us your millions – we’ve got this fab film idea! It’s based on an ancient poem about a Greek guy who takes ten years to get home from a war, but we’re gonna update it to 1930’s America! There’ll be a bluegrass soundtrack and a gospel choir standing in a river and Jon Goodman with one eye. AND we’re putting George Clooney in the lead role – in shackles and a woman’s hairnet. It’s a winner!”
All the best art forms work on more than one level. No really, they do – it’s a broadness-of-appeal thing. Don’t believe me? What about the Simpsons? Kids love it, adults love it – even students love it so much they are willing to stay in bed to 6pm just to make sure they don’t miss it
This is also the case with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, which on paper sounds like little more than a terrible, terrible mess. Imagine approaching a studio executive to say something like the following: “Hey, give us your millions – we’ve got this fab film idea! It’s based on an ancient poem about a Greek guy who takes ten years to get home from a war, but we’re gonna update it to 1930’s America! There’ll be a bluegrass soundtrack and a gospel choir standing in a river and Jon Goodman with one eye. AND we’re putting George Clooney in the lead role – in shackles and a woman’s hairnet. It’s a winner!”
Luckily, everything the Fabulous Coen Boys touch turns to celluloid gold. Joel and Ethan Coen have been responsible for some of the most original, keenly observed and downright hilarious films of the last two decades, and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is, bizarrely enough, perhaps their most accessible effort.
The film has its roots, as I mentioned, in the distinguished historical ballad that is Greek poet Homer’s “The Odyssey”. This started life as a spoken word story and is full of tall tales and exaggerations to prove it, telling the story of war hero Odysseus and his adventures as he attempts to return home to his wife after the Greeks’ victory at Troy. But it’s not just a nod to great literature. The film’s title is something of a movie-buff in-joke, coming from the 1941 comedy caper “Sullivan’s Travels”. In one scene, rich and sheltered film director John Sullivan meditates on how he’s bored of making popular studio movies and wants to make a “real” film that shows the suffering of the average American, calling it “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”. The Coens, I feel, use this partly in jest at themselves as filmmakers, but it doesn’t jar with the piece it names.
“O Brother..” is certainly a costume drama of sorts, but gone are the togas and sandals and here instead are the denim dungarees and linen suits of America’s deep south in the 1930’s. Details of the era are everywhere – wirelesses, motorcars, the ‘Klan – and at the heart of this detail lies the award-winning bluegrass soundtracks, featuring such luminaries as Emmylou Harris and credited with almost single-handedly kickstarting a renaissance of roots music in the late nineties.
As the most central track suggests, Everett Ulysses MacGill (played by one George Clooney, who was reportedly so keen to work with the Coens he signed before reading the script) is a Man of Constant Sorrow. His own Odyssey involves a journey home not from war, but as an escaped convict desperate to save his marriage to a somewhat fickle wife (Coen stalwart Holly Hunter). In this he is assisted by two dimwit companions (Tim Blake Nelson and John Turturro, both excellent character actors). Everett himself is a liar, a thief and possessed of a ridiculous vanity, but above all else he is a lovable rogue of a character and, like everything else in the film, works on several levels. First, he is a human being on a quest for meaning, a theme central to story-telling the world over. Also he is a man put-upon by life and placed in extraordinary circumstances. Most crucially, however, to the film’s success, he is a character we can laugh with and laugh at. Just because the Coens craft films that are expertly plotted and full of brilliantly written characters doesn’t mean their finest comedy moments are above containing farce, and with the assistance of his less brainy friends there is plenty here to laugh at. Witness Nelson’s mistaken belief that the bewitching sirens at the riverside have turned Turturro into a “h-h-horny toad!” or Everett’s repeated, panicked, useless exclamations of “Damn! We’re in a tight spot!” when they’re, um, in a tight spot, and you witness jokes that are genuinely funny because they play upon situation and performance to a skilled degree.
One of the things that I loved best about the film is that, while it owes its existence to the artworks mentioned above and many others in reference, the Coens do not allow themselves to be constrained by this. Homer’s “Odyssey” is adapted, revised, played with, so that any reader familiar with it will recognise the Cyclops, the sirens, the danger of MacGill losing his wife, but can appreciate that something else has been added. It’s not a direct adaptation, it’s an ‘homage’. Furthermore, there are references to events like an old blues legend about a guitarist who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for his unbeatable talent or to the infamous real-life bank robber ‘Babyface’ Nelson (who actually died three years before the film is set). Such frames of reference may mean nothing to an audience outside the film, but within it they can tell that to our three main characters, this is the stuff of legend. In including such details, “O Brother…” doesn’t just make its creation of the era richer; it begins to create its own mythology and makes you buy into the world it presents much more fervently.
“O Brother…” appears to have been marketed as some kind of screwball comedy, and this is misguided. Yes, there are hilarious moments, but it’s far from a laugh-a-minute wacky caper piece. There is an eeriness, a feeling of magic underlying everything – the blind man’s prophecies, the climactic flood, the ominous shadow of the sheriff as he tracks them down all lend an extra atmosphere to the comedy. It’s the whole ‘levels’ thing again, see?
I first saw this on DVD just after it came out, at the recommendation of a couple of film student friends. I loved it because of the classical references (I studied Homer at school, God help me), because of the performances, because it’s a engaging piece of film-making. When the uni term was ended, I headed home, rented this and tentatively suggested my parents watch it with me – ‘tentatively’ because as a rule they hate everything I like. These people are more into Hugh Grant rom-coms and old stuff with Walter Matthau in it, so I wasn’t sure they’d be too keen. And they enjoyed it. Loved it. Went out and bought the soundtrack and the DVD. It opened my eyes to the fact that this is probably the Coens’ step into the mainstream, bereft as it is of their usual heavily black humour and strange acts of violence. How strange they could make it onto a wider audience radar with a piece that sounds such a mish-mash of things it could never be considered anything but a weird experiment, and instead turn it into something that everyone can enjoy.
...my 11 year old watch it and he enjoyed it.
You can currently pick this up new for Ł6.97 at Amazon which is a great price. By teh way the title of the film is O Brother, Where Art Thou and not how Ciao have spelled it Oh Oh. ...
atticusuk 19.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (DVD)
Advantages: Very Funny, Great soundtrack Disadvantages: Not everyones Cup of tea
You know the scene, Saturday Night standing in your local Video shop with your friends trying to get something you all want to watch. After about 10 minutes we decided to forget that and just find something, anything. About 20 minutes later we gave up and picked the only movie that sounded OK.
After such a unanimous decision we weren’t sure what to expect. I have read both good and bad reviews of this film, which left me confused. Add to that ... ...It was a big gamble, I personally love the Coen’s previous work, but some of my friends just don’t like that kind of movie. (The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Barton Fink)
So before I let you know how the night progressed, I’ll tell you a little more about the film.
>>>>Plot<<<<
I must admit that I had no idea that this film was based on Homer’s “Odyssey” (a poem), but looking back It makes sense, not that I know much ...
Dogbert 05.06.2001 (07.06.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (DVD)
Advantages: It's a Coen brothers movie Disadvantages: Not the all-out screwball comedy the trailer suggests
Ten word review: Coen Brothers twist on classic fable with Southern musical numbers. If you met the Coen brothers in a pub on a Saturday night after a few Guinesses, you may well develop a secret desire to knock their pints over. To look upon the Coens is to be confronted with a picture of what the guys from Revenge of the Nerds would look like age 35. They’re the kids who sat at the back of class and never spoke to anyone but each other, the ... ...films are without fault. This is no exception.
The movie throws you straight in at the deep end, with no character exposition, just three escapees from a chain gang making good their getaway and chowing down on a stolen chicken. The runaways in question are George Clooney (From Dusk Till Dawn, Out of Sight) as Everett, John Turturro (Rounders, Barton Fink) as Pete, and Tim Blake Nelson as Delmar.
The reason for their getaway becomes clear when ...
peppersinclaire 01.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (DVD)
Advantages: Excellent story by Ethan and Joel Cohn, brilliant characterizations, excellent soundtrack. Disadvantages: None ...unless you don't like this sort of movie
If you only watch one movie this year, let it be this one! This is a wonderful movie in every way - the story, the soundtrack, the acting and the backgrounds. Absolutely brilliant!
From the opening scenes of the chain gang, working alongside the road, you are back in the South in a time long gone. Mississippi in the 1930's to be exact. When Pete (John Torturro), Delmar ( Tim Blake Nelson) and Everitt (George Clooney) escape, so the movie takes off ... ...of these hapless three in their quest for freedom, and the supposed treasure buried in an area due to be flooded out by the building of a new dam.
When they hitch a ride on a railroad push cart, a blind seer (played by Lee Weaver) tells them they will see things they never expect to see and proceeds to enlighten them of some. They are disbelieving and think him simple ... and yet things come to pass.
There are so many scenes which seem to be THE ...
poet831 14.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (DVD)
Advantages: script; acting; cinematography; plot; you name it! Disadvantages: may cause you to think about what they're saying
...new genre could be produced. O Brother, Where Art Thou is one such production to rise from the mire of mediocrity and provide more than simple entertainment (or lack thereof, in many cases). This production was the work of two of the film world?s most singular makers, the Coen brothers. These two filmmakers have made several of the most enduring and edifying ?cult? classics over the last decade or so, with such works as Fargo, and more recently The ... ...Simply put, O Brother Where Art Thou is one of the most underrated classics of the modern era in cinema. Forsaking gimmickry and cheap laughs, the film ambles along at its own pace, revelling in its languor and at the same time utilising a snapping script full of subtle japes and inventive gags which never fail to bring a smile or a chuckle to my lips. The strength in the film lies in its idiosyncrasies, the coyly mocking tone it takes towards the ...
adamsputnik 18.09.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (DVD)
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Advantages: Very, very funny and great music Disadvantages: None for me, but might not be to everyone's taste
OBrother, WhereArtThouWhere do you start with a Coen brothers film? In the world of modern film making they are in a genre all of their own, their films share a sensibility but trying to define them is a hopeless task. Often called mavericks they are actually very mainstream and produce very polished works a long way from their independent roots.
Many of their films have been classified as screwball comedies but they are equally adept at producing hard boiled thrillers. From the noirish 'Blood Simple' and 'Miller's Crossing' they have stretched to comic chase movies like 'Raising Arizona' and the truly oddball 'Big Lebowski'. The one certainty with a Coen brothers film is that you shouldn't go into one with any preconceived expectations.
The story~
Ulysses Everitt McGill (Clooney) needs to get home to stop his wife ...
Advantages: Hilarious, wholesome, engaging, clever, complete! Disadvantages: DVD extras are only useful for the returning fan
In about every five years, one film will come our way that would go on to be immortal in the annals of film history. OBrother is one of those films.
From start to end, I was fervently engaged in this story as it unravels against the Depression era background with almost balletic pacing. In fact, some have described this film as half belonging to the musical genre. Trust the Coen brothers to come up with a film of such rich contextual detail! But even if you're not familiar with or don't enjoy the works of Joel and Ethan like Fargo, The Big Liebowski and The Man Who Wasn't There, this film will surely mark the turning of the tide because it projects the widest audience appeal. Not only is it entirely wholesome and suitable for the family (and this would usually lead to genre restrictions), it would entertain everyone from the nerdiest ...
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