Keeping it in the family
An auteur is someone who is praised in the film industry for excellence in creativity, originality and artistic vision (Kyser) defines auteur theory "As the director being the personal creative vision behind a film."
Joel and Ethan Coen, collectively known in the film industry as the Coen Brothers, are to many critics not considered to be amongst the greatest film directors of all time. For the sole reason that they have only created a total of 18 films in their career. However, their body of work extends much further than the title of a 'director' would have us believe. The Coens write, edit, produce and direct all of their productions, giving them total control from beginning to end. Above all this gives them a freedom in their films from which they are able to demonstrate the qualities of a true auteur.
With a career spanning over 29 years, 18 films in total may not seem like that many when you compare it to the likes of Martin Scorsese, whose work includes a total of 65 films. Yet I would argue that the quality of their films in terms of originality, technical abilities and cultural awareness places them amongst the greatest Filmmakers of their time.
"The Coens make films that are highly self-conscious of their relationship to preexisting film forms. Their movies rely upon a base of knowledge, cultural and film historical, that is presumed to be shared between themselves and their viewers."
When you watch a Coen Brothers movie, you sit down and immediately expect to expect something that will challenge your view of normality and push the boundaries of cinema to the limit.
As independent filmmakers, the pair are able to take a genre like
comedy, thriller or action and mesh them together combined with their
own unique style, and produce a genre of movies that belongs only to
them. Using the idea of fantasy as a fundamental element to their
films, they manage to portray the uninteresting, mundane situations of
real life; while continually disengage the viewers perception of
normality through the use of fantasy and illusion. But they only manage
to achieve this Coen-esc style through specific camera angles, dark,
noir influenced lighting and most importantly, a dialogue that centres
around their fascination with the development of characters in surreal
environments.
The Big Labowski
'The Big Lebowski’ released in 1998 was at first a disappointment at the US Box Office. But over time, the film has become a cult classic renowned for its fictional characters, dream sequences and unconventional dialogue.
No Country For Old Men
‘No Country For Old Men’ was released in 2007 and is regarded by many critics
as the Coen Brothers finest film. Its a an American crime thriller set
in 1980 West Texas, focusing on greed, money and an unconventional twist
on the classic good Vs evil motif. Written by Cormac McCarthy, It
stands today as the only film the Coens have made that they haven’t
created entirely themselves.
Barton Fink
‘Barton Fink’ is unquestionably one of the greatest films of all time.
Released in 1991 the movie is a surreal interpretation of the decent of
the golden age of cinema. In- fact ‘Barton Fink’ could even be said to
reflect the Coen’s own distaste for the non-creative world of Hollywood. Yannick Dahan, describes the film as “A society where myth has blurred with reality.”
In each of these films you’ll also notice that they all centre around the same key themes and motifs. Which are greed, corruption and stupidity.
(The Coen Brothers)
"One of the reasons for making them simple-minded was our desire to go against the Hollywood cliché of the bad guy as a super-professional who controls everything he does. In fact, in most cases criminals belong to the strata of society least equipped to face life, and that’s the reason they’re caught so often. In this sense too, our movie is closer to life than the conventions of cinema and genre movies."
These re-occurring themes have brought the directors great commercial success in mainstream cinema, but whats rare to see, is that they’ve still managed to maintain some sort of independent atmosphere within their productions.
You will also notice throughout these movies that the brothers rely
heavily on surreal imagery and dark noir lighting, from which they have
clearly been influenced from the likes of Felleni and Pollanski. Take
for instance 'Barton Fink' and the use of repeated close ups of the walls
pealing and the room closing in on him.
Another key trademark of the Coen Brothers franchise is the fact they frequently use the same actors in the majority of their films. Casting the likes of John Goodman, Steve Buscem, Frances McDormand and John Turturro in nearly all of their productions.
The Coen Brothers are much more than just writers, directors and producers. They stand out in a crowd of money driven mass media film monsters, and come out as artistic "procumers" in their own right. Producing, directing and writing the films that they would wish to consume for themselves.
References:
Carolyn R. Russell, The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen, McFarland & Company, Jefferson, 2001, p. 5
Ciment. M., and Niogret, H., Closer to Life than the Conventions of Cinema. in Paul A. Woods (ed.), Joel & Ethan Coen: Blood Siblings, p. 159
Dahan, Y., 2000. From Dream to Reality: The Films of the Coen Brothers. in Paul A. Woods (ed.), Joel & Ethan Coen: Blood Siblings, Plexus, London, , p. 176
Giurgiu. L., 2008. The Procumer And Consequence Of The Web. [Online]. Available from: http://www.ris.uvt.ro/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/giurgiubirsan.pdf. [Accessed 2 March 2013]
Kyser, 2009. The Auteur: Martin Scorsese. [online]. Eblogger. Available from: http://jackkyser.blogspot.com/2009/08/auteur-martin-scorsese.html [Accessed 6 March].
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