Wes Anderson vs. The Cohen Brothers
Posted on November 12th, 2005 by JTkPosted in Fun, media, movies |
Most folks that know me know that I was a Cohen Brothers freak. I say was because, as of late, their offering just haven’t been doing it for me. Do any of you really think that LadyKillers or Intolerable Cruelty are great or even good movies? No of course not. While I still watch Millers Crossing once a month or so, I have started thinking that I am enjoying Wes Anderson’s films just as much as the Cohen’s.
Time was when I wouldn’t have believed that I would ever think I could enjoy anything as much as Blood Simple, Rasing Arizona, and O Brother but I think that Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, and The Life Aquatic stack up pretty well against them.
I don’t think that Mr. Anderson has made anything that approaches the masterpiece that Millers Crossing is, but based on the quality of the last few Cohen movies I wonder if they will ever make anything of that caliber again either. The Cohen’s can create beautifully dark movies like Fargo and Blood Simple that up to now Anderson doesn’t seem interested in making.
Similarly nothing that Anderson has done is as straight up funny as Rasing Arizona, but that is not really his schtick - indeed Wes’ sense of humor is not for everyone - and while Arizona is assessable on a number of levels Anderson seems to only want to let the smart kids in on the jokes. Which is fine with me.
The Cohen’s have mad more movies and have therefore had more hits ( The Big Lebowski ) as well as misses ( Barton Fink ). While the Cohen brothers can make films similar to the style of movies that Anderson makes ( see Lebowski again ) up to this point Anderson only makes one type of movie imho ( featuring overhead camera angles, sixties soundtracks, etc. ) that share a lot of similar ideas ( not to mention cast ) but he does it very, very well. The Cohen’s have crafted decidedly different movies through the years and that is one of the things that I have loved about them.
While I suppose that I still like the older Cohen movies more then I like the first few movies from Anderson it is also true that I more highly anticipate new releases from Anderson then I do the Cohen’s.
As a post script - The Royal Tenenbaums gets allot of shit from folks, but I find the story of Royal’s redemption very emotional without any of the cliched baggage that most heart-stringed films carry - and could Hackman have been any better?
You really captured a lot of the thoughts I’ve had about the Cohens and Wes Anderson, Jtk. I agree that the last two Cohen films have been a disappointment, not horrible films by any means, just not up to par. It seems like only yesterday that I was blown away by Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the others you mentioned.
As for Wes Anderson, I just love his movies - very funny, but with a big heart. I actually wrote an early post about a number of American filmmakers similar to Wes Anderson, a group I called the American New Wave, but this was before I’d seen Life Aquatic, which just reinforced my already positive impression.
It will be fun to continue watching Mr. Anderson develop.
I don’t think you have really grasped what the Cohen brothers have been doing recently have you? Their style has developed but sadly you have not, and for the record, The Royal Tenenbaums sucked ass
Very unique - a question wrapped in a condesending attititude containing an undeserved, self congradilitory declaration. Are you a recent graduate of the bill O’Reilly school of debate?
What I do grasp is that the Cohen brothers are not making movies that are as good as the ones they made in the past. You call it evolution I call it mediocrity.
Or, I guess, I could have said: Yeah, well, y’know…that’s just like…your opinion, man.