The Coen's, for me, marked a success in how I chose to watch their entire back-catalogue and succeeded - whilst my ongoing attempts at watching the back-catalogue's of Woody Allen (so-o-o many films!) and Steven Spielberg (damn you Always!) continue.
It was due to this success that I chronicled the Coen's collection on my blog, analysing each and every film I watched and commenting on them. It was broken into four parts - and preceded True Grit and delves a little deeper into what reoccurs in their films - and what is unique about each one.
As a taste:
"Blood Simple brings together a simple story set in Texas about infidelity and murder. Influenced by genre cinema - namely Film Noir and, to some extent, Horror. Cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld even worked on the film - to go on to direct features such as Get Shorty and Men in Black. Even the awkward murder-gone-wrong, a huge centre-point to the story, is something that became a recurring theme - though clearly inspired by Hitchcock, whereby it was always a nightmare to dispose of bodies and even commit the murder itself in classics such as Rope and Frenzy."
And here are the links to each post -
The Complete Collection: The Coen Brothers (Part 1) - Blood Simple and Raising Arizona
The Complete Collection: The Coen Brothers (Part 2) - Miller's Crossing through to The Big Lebowski
The Complete Collection: The Coen Brothers (Part 3) - O Brother Where Art Thou through to The Ladykiller's
The Complete Collection: The Coen Brothers (Part 4) - No Country for Old Men to True Grit
Well, if you haven't had enough after listening to the podcast, now is your chance to truly immerse yourself in what he has directed so far. I wrote this a little while back, so there is very little coverage on 127 Hours but this extensive coverage includes discussion on some of his lesser known films - Millions, Strumpet and Vacuuming Completely Naked in Paradise. It was broken into four sections -
