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Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

 

TSPDT Rating
Director / Screenwriter / Producer / Editor
Joel 1954 - | Ethan 1957 -
Joel Born November 29, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA | Ethan Born September 21, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Key Production Countries: USA, UK, France
Key Genres: Comedy, Crime, Crime Comedy, Black Comedy, Screwball Comedy, Crime Thriller
Key Collaborators: Carter Burwell (Composer), Roger Deakins (Cinematographer), Frances McDormand (Leading Character Player), Dennis Gassner (Production Designer), Steve Buscemi (Leading Character Player), John Goodman (Leading Player), Jon Polito (Character Player), John Turturro (Leading Character Player), George Clooney (Leading Player), Holly Hunter (Leading Character Player)
Highly Recommended: Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1995), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007)
Recommended: The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Links: [ IMDB: Joel ] [ IMDB: Ethan ] [ TCMDB: Joel ] [ TCMDB: Ethan ] [ All-Movie Guide: Joel ] [ All-Movie Guide: Ethan ] [ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors ] [ Film Reference ] [ Cinepad Interview ] [ You Know for Kids!: The Movies of the Coen Brothers ] [ Coenesque ] [ Guardian Article (2004) ]
Books: [ The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers ] [ The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen ] [ The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers ] [ Coen Brothers (Virgin Film Series) ] [ The Brothers Coen: Unique Characters of Violence ] [ The Coen Brothers (Ronald Bergan) ] [ The Coen Brothers: The Story of Two American Filmmakers ] [ Brothers Coen: Joel and Ethan Coen ] [ The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen ] [ Joel and Ethan Coen (Contemporary Film Directors) ] [ Joel & Ethan Coen: Blood Siblings (Ultrascreen Series) ] [ Joel and Ethan Coen ] [ The Coen Brothers: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series) ]
DVD's: [ Amazon ]
1,000 Greatest Films: Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1995), The Big Lebowski (1998)
21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009)
 
Blood Simple (1984)Miller's Crossing (1990)Barton Fink (1991)Fargo (1995)
 
     
  "For all the visual flair and deft performances on display in their films, the Coens' greatest virtue lies in writing. In terms of pacy stories, witty dialogue and the creation of a coherent, plausible fantasy world peopled by vivid characters, their ability to work original and entertaining variations on a genre bodes well for the future." - Geoff Andrew (The Film Handbook, 1989)  
     
  "I am still unresolved, I liked Fargo nearly as much as its many fans, but then Lebowski felt too cute by half, like a film watching itself, more intent on being droll than life. Is it just my shortcoming, or is there something in fraternal support that means they need never feel alone? I can't shake the feeling of one dude showing the picture to the other, and then chuckling together." - David Thomson, (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002)  
     
  "The Coens appear to have abandoned for good the stylized realism and Aristotelian narrative that made Blood Simple such a success. But in an era that has witnessed the commercial success of cartoonish anti-naturalism (Dick Tracy, the Batman films), their concern with striking visual and aural effects may provide the basis for a long career, though difficult films like Barton Fink, despite critical acclaim, will never gain a wider audience." - R. Barton Palmer (The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia, 1998)  
     
  "Generally we work with our own material, so why would they want us to do it but then get their hands in it? It's different when the studio is doing some teen film. It's a studio product, and maybe in that case the director is driven crazy. But we don't do those kinds of movies." - Joel Coen  
     
  "I mean, Joel talks to the actors more than I do and I probably do production stuff a little more than he does." - Ethan Coen  
     
 

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Last updated: 28/01/2010 10:35 AM.  Contact Us: bill@theyshootpictures.com.
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"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." - Jean Cocteau   "If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed." - Stanley Kubrick