Day #13 - O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I might take my knocks from Coen die-hards for this blog.  Last night I watch the 6 movie in my marathon, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".  The reason I say I could be in trouble is because while I believe they are some of the most prolific film makers and clearly they have made a few of the best films of the past 15 years, they weren't all hits.  When the Coen's occasionally miss, they do it in a big way.  O Brother is a big miss, but it's no Lebowski.

I have the Coen brother films divided into 3 groups.  The A group (most of which were reviewed in this blog), The B group.  This is where I firmly put O Brother.  And The C group.  Films in the C group would be Intolerable Cruelty, Burn After Reading, and the king of the C's, The Ladykillers.  What a train wreck!  O Brother is the Coen's very best B Group movie.

It is about 3 felons on the run from the law set around the dust bowl south.  They are trying to get home to retrieve a treasure before it is gone for good.  The story is loosely (VERY loosely) based on Homer's "The Odyssey".  O Brother starts George Cloone, John Tuturro, John Goodman, Holly Hunter and Tim Blake Nelson.

The performance are a little over the top for my tastes.  I like it when you can see the Coen's playing around behind the camera, but like rambunctious children they need to be told to calm down and relax sometime.  Clooney is charismatic as always, but he seems to be playing at something instead of allowing the character to breathe within him. 

O Brother is mostly known for two things.  First off, it is said to be the first movie shot on film to be entirely ran through a digital transfer.  They did this in order to perfect the sepia look used in the movie.  Everything has a dry, dusty, brassy hue to it.  It really is a stuning example of using a tool like CGI to enhance a story, not the other way around.  I have heard the Coen's refer to the movie as "The Lawrence of Arabia of hayseed movies".   Secondly, it is maybe best known for it's soundtrack.  A collection of classic American tunes produced by the legendary T-Bone Burrnett.  Many of the songs were sang by contemporary artists.  The Soggy Bottom Boys had a huge hit from the film called "Man of Constant Sorrow".  George Clooney and his cohorts mock sang a version of the song in the film.

While I believe this to be far from their best work, it is still a solid film and a bit of a guilty pleasure.  Again (as almost always) the dialouge is fantastic.  Clooney's character is a bit of a wordsmith.  This film is over a decade old and I am still quoting it.  Over all I give this movie a 3/5 stars.  For more information check out the link below for the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1C2gCXo4Gs