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Coen Brothers

Suburbicon: Neighbourhood Disturbance

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There goes the neighbourhood…

Directed by George Clooney, Suburbicon is a satirical look at the suburban world of the late 50s, as racial integration was truly beginning to break down social barriers.  The film tells the story of Garner Lodge (Matt Damon), a family man who lives with his wife, paralyzed as a result of a car accident, and adolescent son.  When a home invasion turns tragic, the Lodge family is thrown into turmoil.  However, as the truth begins to reveal itself, the family—and the neighbourhood—begins to unravel in unexpected ways.

Written by Joel and Ethan Coen, Suburbicon is filled with their signature brand of dark humor and violence yet Clooney very much puts his own stamp on the film as well.  Through his use of framing and lighting, the film might be the best example of 50s-style film noir in years.  What’s more, he wisely remains behind the camera for this film, resisting the obligatory cameo.  In doing so, he allows the script and cast to bring the film to life on their own, which they do so successfully.  Damon hasn’t appeared this menacing since The Talented Mr. Ripley while Moore plays the stereotypical housewife with a subversive edge.  (Meanwhile, Oscar Issacs almost steals the film in his brief cameo as an insurance adjuster.)

Clooney portrays Suburbicon as a city of ‘diversity’, yet the set design and entirely Caucasian cast remind us of the myth of that claim.  (This reality is emphasized from the very beginning through the film’s opening credit sequence, which hilariously mimics classic promotional films.)  This town is one that believes it has ‘bettered itself’ and has ‘opportunities for prosperity for all’ yet refuses to recognize its unspoken flaws.  Image is everything in Suburbicon but what happens when the seething cesspool of injustice and murder underneath begins to bubble to the surface?

In fact, one of the most interesting facets of Suburbicon is its interest in exploring racial tensions, without that narrative becoming the primary focus of the film.  By focusing on the gradual destruction of the Lodge family, Clooney somehow manages to allow the racial issues to gain prominence.  In other words, through its emphasis on the murderous intrigue, it is a reminder of how often the real social injustices of our culture get either swept aside or misplace blame.  Although it takes place in the late 50s, there is a timeliness and urgency to Suburbicon that give it a much-needed satirical bite.  It’s hard to watch Suburbicon and remain comfortable, which is to its credit.  The film knows what it wants to say and it does so efficiently and effectively.

But, if you decide to move there, just don’t drink the tea.

This year, ScreenFish was invited to the TIFF17 press conference for SUBURBICON! Narrated by George Strombolopolous, this revealing conversation includes director George Clooney, writer Grant Heslov, and stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore and Karimah Westbrook.  You can stream the audio from the event here:

 

 

Blood Simple (1984) Criterion Collection: Light & Sound #TBT

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bloodsimple

Back in 1984, director brother Joel and Ethan Coen teamed with first-time cinematographer Barry Sonnefeld to deliver their first feature film, Blood Simple. They would go on to work together again on Raising Arizona and Miller’s Crossing, but their combined filmography includes O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country For Old Men, Men in Black, Fargo, Get Shorty, and a host of other well-known hits. Today, thanks to the Criterion Collection, you can watch their breakthrough noir thriller and hear them pick it apart shot by shot, lighting choice by lighting choice, sound by sound.

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The plot revolves around the affair of Abby (Frances McDormand, and Joel’s real-life wife) and Ray (Joe Getz), who anger Abby’s jealous husband, Marty (Dan Hedaya). Marty then hires the morality-free Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh), and all hell slowly breaks loose as double-crosses and unintended violence color the Coens’ most colorful neon film. But there are no good guys here – only broken vows of all shapes and sizes.

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While the Criterion Collection includes a look at the moody music of Carter Burwell, and an essay by Nathaniel Rich, the best feature provided to fans of the film, the Coens, and cinematography in general is the commentary provided by Sonnefeld and the Coens. Here, the three men – who obviously admire each other – gamely pick their first film apart. [For the record, have you checked out your first anything? Poem, sermon, art project, sound recording? It can be a truly miserable experience!] But from the very get go, when they dive into the way that they used three different cars to shoot one scene from the film, they are self-deprecating and insightful.

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The three of these men talk about decisions made in wardrobe, location, light, casting, crew, and more throughout the film, with telestrators to draw our eyes to things they liked … or didn’t like. While the film itself is dark and foreboding, the relaxed nature of the conversations is hilarious at times, as they pick at themselves and each other. It underlies the hard work of filmmakers to produce the 90 to 120 minutes we devour easily, like a good meal cooked all day can be inhaled in a matter of minutes.

While there are things to learn about Sonnenfeld and the Coens, some of my favorite thoughts included:

bloodsimple6-Sonnenfeld’s insistence on not worrying where the light should be coming from but what part of a face or scene he wanted to highlight.

-The Coens’ reflection on other films that influenced them, like Mad Max or The Evil Dead.

-Sonnenfeld’s recollection that Kathryn Bigelow wanted him to shoot Near Dark based solely on a shoot-out scene in Blood Simple.

-That they chose short people to throw trash into a dumpster in one scene because they couldn’t find a bigger dumpster and wanted to give the impression that it was larger.

Seriously, who thinks of this stuff? Directors. And thanks to the Criterion Collection, we get to hear directly from some of the best.

Hail Caesar!: Hello, Hollywood

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We are all looking for something until we find it. With their typical humor and wit, the Coen Brothers have delivered a film about the quest for that thing (whatever it may be) for a cast of characters ripped out of 1951 Hollywood, with its Communists, Cold War, and economics. And, as can’t be ignored, it sports a long line of A-list and B-list actors to poke fun at itself all while romping around California.

Michael Gambon narrates, but Josh Brolin’s fixer Eddie Mannix is the story’s glue. He’s supposed to solve studio problems when stars get into trouble, whether it’s taking inappropriate pictures in studio costume, drinking too much and skipping shots, or, in the case of Baird Whitlock, getting kidnapped by Communists. But while Mannix is our viewpoint, he’s not really in control, because, well, no one is.

hailcaesar4Hobbie Doyle (Aiden Ehrenreich, who is about to be Han Solo the younger) is a singing cowboy who wants to be taken seriously. Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) is a big time director who can’t get the actors he wants, but settles for training those he has. DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) is the bombshell who is pregnant but who can’t give up the baby and won’t get married at Mannix’s assistance. Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum) is… more than meets the eye.

It’s all a bit much. But the Coen Brothers delivered Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Burn After Reading, so it’s not just the over-the-top violence they know how to wrangle. This is period-piece work, and clever, but it’s the kind of funny that doesn’t generate many laugh out loud moments, just shakes of the head. (One of the many ironies is seeing the way that Hollywood is being critiqued by some of its biggest stars who play its biggest games…)

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In one early scene, Mannix tries to run the script of a film by a rabbi, a Protestant minister, and a Catholic priest. He wants to know if the portrayal of Jesus is offensive, but the men are more inclined to tell him that they think the chariot chase is ridiculous. Mannix wants to know that the film will not be offensive to “any American regardless of creed,” which in itself is ironic and ridiculous: Jesus was and still is offensive to people because of what he taught, but to Hollywood, there’s an expectation that Jesus can be watered down until everyone who accept that version of Jesus. Unfortunately, many churches do that, too, right?

Special features on the Blu-ray include a look at the Coens’ intentions in “Directing Hollywood,” the cast’s response in “The Stars Align,” and the setup to the glamour and glitz in “An Era of Glamour” and “Magic of a Bygone Era,” with cast, crew, costumes, and set.

Hail, Caesar – Golden Days of Hollywood a la Coen Brothers

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“Would that it were so simple.”

The Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar is an entertaining look at the old Hollywood Studio System with a load of insider references. (I would love to have a Cliff Notes type of resource to identify all those references.) But like nearly all of their films there is more here than just the good time we have watching it.

Set in the 1951 at Capitol Pictures (the same fictitious studio as in their film Barton Fink), the film spends a day following Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), the studio head, as he spends his days and nights dealing with one problem after another: a starlet being taken advantage of by a photographer, the choreograph film extravaganza star (Scarlett Johansson) is pregnant but unmarried, rival twin gossip columnists (Tilda Swinton) out for a scoop, a singing cowboy (Alden Erhenreich) who has been pushed into a high society role under an acclaimed director (Ralph Fiennes), and the kidnapping of the star (George Clooney) of a biblical epic (from which the film gets its title) that is nearly done filming. All of this gives the film a chance to look at the various film genres of the day. If you’ve wondered how the Coen Brothers would have made a Gene Kelly dance film or an Esther Williams swimming number, you get a glimpse in Hail, Caesar.

Because Mannix is so good at solving the never ending stream of problems, he is being recruited by Lockheed Corporation. They offer him more money, better hours (he never seems to sleep, and only gets a few moments with his family), he would be working for national security rather than dealing with the crazy Hollywood scene. It seems like a no-brainer, but he is hesitant. A clue as to his reasons might be seen in the way the film is bookended by two trips to confession. This is a daily occurrence for Mannix where he confesses minor sins (like lying to his wife about quitting smoking). He is trying to be a good person, even though he may be skirting some of the morality of the day. When he seeks the priest’s advice about changing jobs, the advice the priest gives him is “God wants us to do what’s right.”

That is very close to the essence of many of the Coen Brothers’ films: what does it mean to be a good person. Among their earlier films that look at that question are Raising Arizona; Fargo; The Hudsucker Proxy; O Brother, Where Art Thou; The Man Who Wasn’t There, and A Serious Man. In these films people do things that may or may not be good. It always seems to come down to that advice from the priest of doing what is right. That is the issue that Mannix faces in everything he does. It is then up to us to decide if he succeeds in being the kind a man he wants to be.