Welcome to Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com, where I'll count down my ten favorite something-or-others....
Today's topic is Joel and Ethan Coen, the co-director brothers who specialize in strange characters, meticulously crafted dialogue, and sometimes head-scratching endings. The Coens have built a tremendously diverse and idiosyncratic slate of films spanning multiple genres, often involving film noir elements and seedy criminals, but sometimes taking the form of a sardonic comedy or scathing satire. I've been a fan of theirs more or less since they debuted with
Blood Simple, but it was in the mid-90s that Joel and Ethan reached their full potential, and they've helmed multiple classics over the past thirty years.
But which Coen films are the best? Let's look at the top ten now, shall we?
10. A Serious Man
This uncomfortable dark comedy about a physics professor whose life begins spiraling out of control was quietly nominated for multiple Oscars and largely flew under the radar. Michael Stuhlbarg stars as Larry Gopnik, a husband and father of two whose wife wants to leave him for his best friend, and whose slightly delinquent kids don't respect him. Stuhlbarg carries the film with an understatedly comic performance, reacting to each new hardship with annoyed disbelief. The Larry character reminds me a bit of Barton Fink in that he never seems to give up hope or accept that he's simply screwed. The film has a philosophical tone but ultimately appears to arrive at the conclusion that bad things sometimes happen to people just because. An unexpectedly strong inclusion to the Coens' filmography.
9. Raising Arizona
This zany western-comedy stars Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter as a robber and cop, respectively, who inexplicably fall in love and decide to steal a baby from a rich couple who has just had quintuplets. But soon Cage's ex-cellmates escape prison and pay him a visit, and he goes back to armed robbery, while the baby's actual parents hire a grizzled bounty hunter to retrieve their child. The film blends screwball elements with those of
Mad Max to show off the Coens' bizarre sense of humor, and also marks their first of several brilliant collaborations with John Goodman.
8. Barton Fink
Possibly the weirdest Coen Brothers film is this dark, moody period piece set in 1941, about a playwright-turned-screenwriter plagued with writer's block. John Turturro's title character lives in a Hollywood hotel and befriends his next door neighbor Charlie (John Goodman), who turns out to be a brutal serial killer. This psychological drama was written over three weeks while Joel and Ethan struggled to complete the
Miller's Crossing script, and though difficult to fully categorize, contains elements of film noir, horror and surrealism.
Barton Fink is read by some as symbolic of the rise of fascism in Eastern Europe, while others see it as a parable about a man trapped in Hell. Whatever the interpretation,
Barton Fink is a darkly unique, haunting entry in the Coen pantheon.
