Coen Brothers Get Serious
The Coen Brothers have announced that following their Brad Pitt picture, Burn After Reading, they will write, direct and produce Serious Man, said to be a return to the dark comedy in the style of Fargo. For those of us who loved Fargo and the brothers' previous, darker works, this return to form is great news, and hopefully representative of a return to the pretentiousness that first drew me to the duo.
You see, though Fargo was a critical success, taking home two Oscars in 1997, its blending of the humorous and macabre was still high-brow enough to keep at least Michael Bay fans away. Watching it, enjoying it, catching the little subtleties, you couldn't help but feel that, hey, I might not have a girlfriend, or any friends at all for that matter, but at least I "get it."
Then came The Big Lebowski, which at first seemed like it might not connect with mass audiences but was soon picked up by college frat boys, presumably mistaking it for Kingpin. They embraced the outcast characters, recognizing how they would later oppress these types of people once attaining their business degrees, and made Lebowski the go-to film after drunk viewings of Swingers and Scarface. Even shooting The Man Who Wasn't There in black and white couldn't keep the brothers from mainstream success at that point. And not to say I disliked Intolerable Cruelty or Ladykillers, but that my mom saw them speaks volumes.
So here's to hoping the Coens' return to the dark comedy will mark not only a return to the style of work we first learned to love, but the return of my obnoxious, unwarranted elitism. If I can't get it here, I'll have to start listening to NPR.
