Product Description
Three satiric plays by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ethan Coen

Raising Arizona, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading–the Coen brothers’ films are some of the most critically acclaimed and iconic of our time. Now, one half of the duo, Ethan Coen, adds playwriting to his eclectic bio. In these three short plays that ran to sold-out audiences Off-Broadway in 2008, the theme is hell–both on earth and in the hereafter.

In “Waiting,” a man faces an uncertain future in an uncertain location that seems to be some kind of waiting room. The anxiety and despair hark back to dramas of the fifties–Sartre, Beckett, Pinter.

“Four Benches” depicts an unlikely meeting in a steam room between a straight-talking Texan and an uptight Brit. Both men learn from the encounter, though only one survives it.

In “Debate,” the cantankerous god of the Old Testament roundly abuses the mealymouthed god of the New. His profanity and ill humor receive a startling comeuppance, and further reversals and changes of point of view lead to a denouement that is no more preposterous than anything else in the play.

Clever, provocative, and as engaging as the best fiction, these plays showcase yet another talent of one of our most celebrated contemporary writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Expectations, Not So Great Execution
Approached this book, sorry, play script with anticipation. It's been a very long time since I've read a play, but have really enjoyed them in the past. Ethan Coen of the famous Coen brothers film directing crew, set a very high bar; I love their films. Plays can be so wonderful to read, they are so visual and transport you to another place; something that I just love.

Sadly this script just didn't deliver what I was hoping. The first story is the best, it's about the waiting room between heaven and hell. There's a fun twist at the end, that I won't reveal. It's engaging, has some humor, and I could very easily picture this on the stage. The second piece was just a jumble of nonsense. It made almost no sense whatsoever and I had a very hard time getting engaged. The story line kept jumping around with no lights but conversation, revealing the actors and hiding them. The third act was mediocre. The pretext was a debate between God and God. God Who Judges starts off berating the audience about how they have to follow the ten commandments. God Who Loves then talks about how wonderful people are and how they should follow those commandments. It's not really a debate at all, instead it's more like a tirade. It's better not to spoil the rest of the plot, because there are some somewhat interesting twists. The third act has a huge amount of foul language, not offensive to me, but might be to others.

The problem with this play, all these acts have been done before and done to death (pun intended). The other plays are much better done than this one. There's a laugh or two, but this is not gut wrenching funny theater. It's possible, live, this could be better, but I kind of doubt that. The three acts felt very much like plays from the 50's. Nothing terribly edgy, nothing very new here.

I read this on my new Kindle. The really good news about this play, it's presented beautifully. The formatting and typeface are easy to read and come across perfectly.

Wish I could say this is a better play. I just didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I expected. ... Read more

Product Description
The Brothers Grim examines the inner workings of the Coens' body of work, discussing a movie in terms of its primary themes, social and political contexts, narrative techniques, influences, relationship to their other films, and the Coens' referential modus operandi that retreads cinema, literature, history, philosophy, and art to amplify their films' themes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

More than just a great read
As a long time Coen brothers fan I thought I understood their movies and their motivations. I felt very proud of myself as I sat in the dark, staring up at the screen, smiling at the subtle jokes and references in their films I was certain few others "got." I felt equally certain I understood the full depths of the Coen's writing and filmmaking.

After reading Ms. Rowell's delightful and intensively researched book, I suddenly discover I was only dipping my toe into the shallow end of the pool (and unlike the frozen lakes in Fargo), what a warm inviting pool it is.

Accessible and thoroughly researched, Ms. Rowell uncovers mysteries in the Coen's works that would make Marge Gunderson proud. Her succinct style pulls the reader along in much the same way the Coen's pull us along in their films -- with twists and turns, jabs and feignts, wit and winks. Yet always it is factual and informative.

Her insight is not just limited to each individual film. As we read through the chapters we begin to see how interconnected the Coen's works are to each other. This book, like the Coen's body of work, is more than meets the eye and far more than the sum of it's parts.

If you're a Coen Brothers fan... a film fan... a reading fan... a fan of mysteries examined and solved, take a peak. When you're finished go out to a nice party. I promise someone extremely attractive in that well-read, down-to-earth, likes both football and Faulkner kind of way will be most impressed with your insight... most impressed.

Just remember to (eventually) give credit where it's due.

Eye-opening and entertaining book for all film lovers
I didn't used to be a fan of the Coen brothers' films, but I appreciated them, as well as good film in general, a lot more after reading this book.

The amount of insight author Rowell has into the Coens' films is amazing.As I read through each chapter, I was stunned by how much in the films I had "missed."Rowell's analysis reveals the numerous layers of meaning that are embodied in the films.She covers subjects as diverse as politics, religion and philosophy, art and music, and race and class.She illuminates the context of the Coens' works in the history of film, and points out the numerous allusions to and borrowings from previous films, including their own.I was truly impressed by the scope of the analysis and the thoroughness of the research conducted.

All this is written in a lively style and well organized format that can engage anyone ranging from a casual moviegoer to a scholar of film.Rowell's clever word play throughout the text add to the delight.

I recommend viewing a film first, and then reading the relevant chapter in the book to be wowed by all the things you missed.Then watch the film again! ... Read more

Product Description

In Gates of Eden, Ethan Coen exhibits on the printed page the striking, twisted, yet devastatingly on-target vision of modern American life familiar from his movies. The world within the world we live in comes alive in fourteen brazenly original tragicomic short stories—from the Midwest mob war that fizzles due to the principals' ineptness to the trials of a deaf private eye with a blind client to a fugitive's heartbreaking explanation for having beheaded his wife, alarming in that it almost makes sense.

Customer Reviews (16)

Hilarious and distrubing...
As a big fan of his movies, I was really inpressed with this collection of short stories.This guy can really write.GATES OF EDEN will leave you wondering if every story included could be made into a film.Brilliant!

Help! Coen turned people into pulp!
Well no, these aren't actual people in Coen's stories, but they are 'real' and brilliantly drawn. The dark humor those familiar with the Coen Bros. movies is ever-present in these stories, and Ethan proves he's as capable a writer as a storyteller, with very clever use (and abuse) of language and clever turns of phrase.

I suppose what I enjoyed most is that every chapter of this short-story collection is a *story*, rather than just a writing exercise from a creative writing course. These stories are populated by *characters*, and the actions of these characters advance the *plot*. Each is pure fun to read, and again, are excellent *stories*. They're about people, and the things people do, and how screwed up the whole species really it.

From Hector Berlioz, p.i., to the weights-and-measures man.
Coen brothers.

Just say the words, and most moviegoers can tell you what you're probably in for.

Crime. Criminals. Mystery. Shenanigans.

The same holds true for "Gates of Eden," a collection of short stories by Ethan Coen, one-half of the brother team (bro is Joel Coen) that created such contemporary classics as "Blood Simple," "Fargo," "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and, most recently, "The Man Who Wasn't There."

With the short stories in "Gates," Ethan displays the tendency to irresistible characters that the brothers have put to such acclaimed use in their films.

And characters they are. Hapless schmucks, crooks who just don't seem to have a clue, oddballs and hitmen, all of whom are destined to win your heart. Or, at the very least, your funny bone.

The title story is probably my favorite, simply because it examines a career that is usually shucked aside by storytellers in favor of more glamorous work: The weights-and-measures man.

It's Joe Gendreau's job to make sure the gas station attendant isn't overcharging for or skimping on gas; a beating with a tire iron will keep him straight. All in a day's work, ma'am.

Like Joe says, "Standards are what make us a society. A community agrees. A gallon is a gallon. A pound is a pound. He who says fifteen ounces is a pound - he must be put down. A pound is a pound, or we go bango."

Sigh. Coen's use of dialogue makes me weak in the knees. Oh, to have that firm control of dialect.

Other faves in "Gates":

"Destiny": A knocked-out-too-often boxer agrees to take pictures of guy's wife in bed with a business associate, and ends up caught in between two gentlemen of less than civil reputation.

"Cosa Minapolidan": Among other things, a mob boss wants a fresh stiff. But the guys he's got on the job ain't quite right in the head, if you know what I'm saying. And one of 'em's new on the job.

"Hector Berlioz, Private Investigator": Aside from his name, there's nothing out of the ordinary about this private investigator. Coen sets the whole story like it could be an old-fashioned radio drama, and the results are both familiar and fantastic.

"A Fever in the Blood": Next to "Eden," this is the best story in the collection. Another p.i. finds himself deaf in one ear psychologically after having the other one bitten off. Brings the "Twilight Zone" to mind, complete with twist at the end. Perfection.

Anyone in need of a quick pick-me-up or an enjoyably light read can do worse than Coen. Grab your teddy bear, hunker down under the covers after (or in the middle of) a long day and thank your lucky stars you don't lead these sorry souls' lives.

The Strange Mind of Coen
Ethan Coen's collection of short stories is a hint to his remarkable movies.The writer of such great films as Raising Arizona, Fargo, and O Brother Where Art Thou? brings his unmistakable sense of humor to literature with his first work of fiction, Gates of Eden.Coen's sense of humor is uniquely intelligent at times, stupid at others, and very often disturbing.

From mafia back-stabbing to a decapitated wife and every story in between, Coen makes the reader laugh and simultaneously makes the reader feel uncomfortable for laughing.One often finds himself asking, "Should I really be laughing at this?"It is upon this type of humor that the Coen Brothers built their film career.Coen overcomes the occasional lack of true plot development with intriguing character analysis and captivating dialogue.

This book is a very easy read even with the intriguing and interesting lanuage and dialogue.The stories are short enough for a single sitting and long enough to actually say something.I would recommend this book to anyone who has taken even the slightest interest in a Coen Brothers film.But take heed, many stories are not for the weak-stomached conservative.Be prepared for a few shocks and an interesting insight to the American way.

If you like his movies...
If you like Ethan Coen's wacky films, and I am among their biggest fans, then you are bound to enjoy most if not all of the subject stories.Unlike most audio collections, these stories are narrated by many of the actors who have starred in Coen Brothers films such as William H. Macy, John Goodman, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi.I thought that was a great touch, and unlike another reviewer here I thoroughly enjoyed the vocal talents, never sensing that the stars had been quickly handed the stories and told to "read" by the director.

As for the tales themselves, they were each very different, and ranged from typical Coen brothers slapstick crime stories to poignant tales of growing up Jewish in Minneapolis.I really enjoyed "Destiny",the story of an over-educated boxer with no fighting spirit, narrated by Matt Dillon, who becomes hopelessly involved in a battle between a couple of two bit hoods while getting pummeled throughout the story."The Boys", a story of a father struggling to maintain his sanity on a camping trip with his two sons really struck a chord as well, since Coen displays his typical caustic wit and dead-on observations of family relationships.

The stories are not for everyone, sometimes the language can get a little coarse (especially the Steve Buscemi narrated "Have You Ever Been to Electric Ladyland", involving a music industry executive who tries telling the police the myriad of enemies who might have tortured his dog), and those easily offended may want to look elsewhere.Even here Coen's biting sarcasm is evident, as he skewers thinly-veiled real stars including Cat Stevens.

Overall, while Coen may never push writers like Raymond Carver out of the pantheon of American Short Story writers, these tales are an amusing bunch, made more entertaining by the considerable vocal talents of each of the narrators.I recommend you give them a try, especially in audio format. The people in the next car will wonder what you are grinning about. ... Read more

Product Description
Provocative, revealing, and often hilarious poems by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of No Country for Old Men

In his screenplays and short stories, Ethan Coen surprises and delights us with a rich brew of ideas, observations, and perceptions. In his first collection of poems he does much the same. The range of his poems is remarkable–funny, ribald, provocative, sometimes raw, and often touching and profound.

In these poems, Coen writes of his childhood, his hopes and dreams, his disappointments, his career in Hollywood, his physically demanding love affair with Mamie Eisenhower, and his decade-long battle with amphetamines that produced some of the lengthier poems in the collection. You will chuckle, nodding with recognition as you turn the pages, perhaps even stopping occasionally to read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Funny, Iconoclastic and Honest Rhyming Poetry for Adults
Open-minded adult readers who love rhyming poetry, humor and cutting through facades and baloney to the truth about anything will instantly love this little book.It will keep its owner chuckling, nodding in approval and thinking of giving it to someone as an inexpensive gift.

Those who say whatever they feel like saying and relish the work of writers who do the same will be in their glory reading Coen's poems.Those who favor moderation in speech and writing might have reservations.They don't need to be prudes to feel this way.Some are getting tired of writers who flaunt their "openness" when discussing vaginas, penises, drunkenness and the like.If these poems were part of a movie they would be rated R.

The quality of these poems is highly variable.There is some filler in this collection.The best one by far is "The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way."It is worth the price of the book to read this one and a full third of the others.

You don't have to love his movies to enjoy this!
I certainly enjoy classic poetry, but I also enjoy parody and fun poetry. This short book has some absolutely hysterical poems, and many of them parallel the classics. The title poem is actually making a great point about how the reckless people in life force the rest of us to yield to their desires.

The more bizarre/extreme works in the collection might offend some people, but if you have a good sense of humor and don't get upset easily, then you'll certainly enjoy this work.

A quick story: I brought this book into school and passed it around the English department ... almost everyone found a poem to read aloud, and we all had fun discussing them. The consensus favorite was the poem "Reunion," where Coen perfectly hits what goes on at the 10, 20, or 25 year high school reunion. Pick this up and pass it on ... you'll laugh at the least.

At last, poetry for us contented lowbrows...
I have never read a book of poetry from cover to cover before...mainly due to induced narcolopsy after the first few pages.It was therefore with some degree of drowsy trepidation that I received this gift from a close friend.I read the first poem, then the next, then the last...and wondered where this guy had been all my reading life.

I found these poems to be surprising, cleverly metered and worded, and very, very funny.I loved "Agent Elegy", a scathingly intimate portait of a Hollywood agent in repose.I laughed out loud over "Churchyard", a collection of cautionary epitaphs, and I completely fell off my chair for "The Hopping Poem", "After Bukowski", and many others.Any book that has a chapter entitled "Clean Limericks--What's the Point, After All?", you gotta like.There's plenty of the other sort as well.

I find the fact that these works are the cast-off thoughts of an author who is accomplished and celebrated in another medium to be nothing short of amazing.

Don't be put off by the highbrows and their sneers...this is truly poetry for us huddled masses of lowbrows yearning for rhymes a little less rarefied.This is a wonderful book! ... Read more

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Product Description
Join award-winning author and columnist Cathleen Falsani as she explores the serious existential questions raised in the movies of the wildly popular and always irreverent Coen brothers. Coen fans and film lovers will appreciate Falsani's unique blend of contemporary insight and spiritual discernment that is both entertaining and illuminating. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (94)

Disappointing
Since I enjoy writing myself, I do not want to give a low score to any book, but without honest scores, how would reviewers guide anyone?

I have to say that I was very disappointed in this book.Basically, The Dude Abides tells you what happens in the Coen Brothers' films, and you get just a touch of commentary on how a few events in the films relate to the Bible or to a Christian point of view. The one thing that I was hoping for, and assumed I would find, in depth discussions of symbolism or metaphor, are little to none in this book.

The Dude Abides would be nice to look at in a library or friend's house, but not to buy...

Technical Quality of Book:
Quality Paperback, with good white pages, and easy to read print with nice spacing between lines.

The Dude and the Coen Brothers Abide
The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, Cathleen Falsani, Zondervan Publishers, 240 pages, illustrations, filmography, appendix, paperback, $14.99.

In the 1980s after viewing the first two Coen Brothers films, 'Blood Simple' and 'Raising Arizona', I had my eyes wide open to fact that these two guys well understood film making, plotting, and existential ethics cast in a Judeo-Christian mold. An avid reader of works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandlers, Ross MacDonald, and James M. Caine, I longed for Hollywood to get the noir detective genre right, again.

Chicago Sun-Times religion journalist Cathlee Falsani immerses herself in the 14 films of Joel and Ethan Coen and asks spiritual and religious questions of the films. Does the Coen brothers' dark humor, verbal slapstick comedy, grim judgments and bleak contexts offer an avenue to the deeper issues of death, betrayal, greed, loyalty in an environment in which God appears to be absent? Do the Coen brothers' film characters show the dire consequences of their choices? Are the filmakers' complex themes clearly presented so their notions of morality are apparent?

Falsani states that these films are not overtly religious, but the films do successfully convey the Coen brothers' spiritual insights into the human condition. She discusses each of the Coen brothers' films, from their debut, 'Blood Simple'(1984), through 'A Serious Man' (2009). Falsani's chapters contain a plot summary and concludes with a discussion of what lessons the film offers. These section are entitled 'The Moral of the Story'. She is adept at offering a nuanced analysis of pop culture, Judeo-Christian heritage, and the art of storytelling.

'The Dude Abides: The Gosple According to the Coen Brothers' is accessible to The book also is attractive to those who have seen all the brothers' films, twice. Ranging from iconoclastic comedies such as 'Raising Arizona' and 'The Big Lebowski' to an unblinking examination of the nature of evil in 'No Country for Old Men', the Coen brothers have created moral universe in which some of life's essential questions are asked--if not always answered.

So how do the Coen brothers understand the meaning of life, the possibility of enlightenment, the nature of truth and enduring love? Falsani examines the films, her own personal experiences, her spirituality, and the intersection of the Coen brothers media and her own journalistic profession of asking questions and getting answers.

Not that deep
If you are looking for a light analysis of the movie, then you should buy this book. But it's definitely not that in depth, so you should not expect that out of it.

Really enjoyed this one...
Well, I am a fan of the Coen brothers, and I run a movie theater, so what's not to like?This book takes an unusual look at their films, and draws some interesting conclusions.If you like their work, you will like this book.

MOVIES ARE OUR SECULAR CHURCH
Cathleen Falsani perfectly captures the theological and philosophical essence of the Coen brothers great films.

I have long sensed that there was much more going on in their films than meets the eye.That's because it's the ear the gives it away.When you listen to the spoken words -- sometimes in direct opposition to what we see on screen -- only then does a greater meaning of their films suddenly become clear.And I'm not thinking only of the obvious irony.

Falsani tapped into the -- perhaps unintentional -- heart of their films when seen as a whole.Their seems to be a consistent thread or theme."What's it all about?" is a question with which many Coen characters are obviously wrestling.

Her truncated chapter on A SERIOUS MAN needs to be revised.It was written before the film was released,It is here that some of the theological questions about God and meaning and destiny as old as Job are rekindled.And the answer is not one that generates warm fuzzies.The meaning of life is a matter or perception.Bad things happen to good people.Even worse, good things happen to bad people.The why remains as illusive as ever.

For movie buffs who like to think, this is a sly and wise little volume.

Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
These four early works by the internationally lauded filmmaking team deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious. Of the scripts included here, Barton Fink--an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood--is a masterful culmination of these themes.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A collection of great scripts
What is there to say? Joel and Ethan Coen are some of the best screenwriters working in the business.This book is a collection of their first 4 scripts filmed on the big screen.Please note that the scripts dont appear to be the final shooting version of the scripts, because last night I was watching Miller's Crossing and Blood Simple back to back and I noticed how some dialogue was changed and some scenes were excluded completely.There is nothing wrong with this and is probably even better so you can see the raw ideas the Coen Brother's had of their stories before filming them.Each one of these scripts are great on their own, and its amazing that they were written by two guys consecutively. Most writers couldn't write a script as good as Barton Fink or Raising Arizona, but these two brothers wrote them one after another. Barton Fink stands alone as the best script in this collection in my opinion.It is the ONLY film to have swept all the major categories at the Cannes Film festival.In conclusion, If you are taking a film writing course in college, or aspire to be a screenwriter and need some inspiration, then this collection is truly tremendous. All four of these scripts are great.I believe there is a Volume 2 of this book, but I would only get it for Fargo and The Big Lebowski, whereas in Volume 1 all the scripts are good!

a great collection
A terrific collection of stories providing an insight into interesting story techniques, and combining dark humor with suspense. Even if you just read one or two of the screenplays, it's worth it.

It's Raising Arizona
The best movie EVER!The straight script, I had hoped to stumble onto some dialogue that wound up on the cutting room floor but to no avail.Being interested in screenplay writing I was curious how the Coen's conveyed all of the sight humor into their screen play.If your looking for screen play examples (the how to write a screenplay books are worthless) this has been very helpful to me.Too bad their aren't any story boards to go with it. ... Read more

Product Description
Joel and Ethan Coen are among America's best-loved and most lauded independent filmmakers. With their latest work, O Brother, Where Art Though?, The Oscar-winning team returns to the period-piece films of their earlier career (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy) and showcase once-again their pitch-perfect ear for hilarious and outrageous dialogue, as well as their penchant for the fantastic.

Based on Homer's Odyssey, the movie stars George Clooney as Ulysses Everett McGill, along with Coen-mainstay John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as fugitives from a chain gang who embark on a mystical and musical journey through 1930s Mississippi. History and allegory are expertly entwined as, along the way, the three escapees encounter a blind prophet, are tempted by sirens, do battle with a Cyclops (in the form of a one-eyed Klansman), fall in with George "Baby Face" Nelson on a bank heist, and cut a blues record with a young guitar prodigy who bears a striking resemblance to the real-life Robert Johnson.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Coens Are Truly Learning How To Write!
This is a fun and wacky screenplay to read!It really puts images into your mind that will make you laugh and wonder.I haven't even seen the movie yet, and I still was able to "get" the jokes and laughed a lot.Just think to yourself, "This is going to be a lot like Raising Arizona" and you'll figure it out.

Ranks right up there with the Coens' Fargo script, which is also a good read.

Required reading
I've been a fan of the Coens' movies for years and I do believe I've figured out a way to enjoy them more thoroughly: READ THE SCREENPLAY. There's no writing that's better in the movies right now.I'm not a film maker, I'm not a script writer, I'm not a director, I'm not an actor, I'm not a movie critic, I'm not even the damn guy who tears the ticket and stands behind that big velvet rope sayin' "To your right" or "To your left."All that I am is a fan of the movies as well as a fan of literature.These guys know how to make words create people and they do it well time after time.

Specifically "O Brother ..." is a screenplay that mixes Homer with Bluegrass with Old Movies with (whether the Coens know it or not) Mark Twain and folks along those lines.In fact, there's a scene in Huck Finn in which Huck states he'd prefer his dinner all cooked together in one pot so that the juices swap around and make things go better.That's a pretty good metaphor for "O Brother ..." Rather than the screenplay that's about hicks or racism or a woman scorned, the Coens mix it all up and believe me things go better that way.

This is the literature of our time.You should watch AND READ these movies.

teachem2@home.com ... Read more

Product Description
Two gym instructors (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) accidentally stumble across and try to sell a disk containing the memoirs of CIA agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), who has recently resigned from the agency in a fit of pique. Their attempts at blackmail go wildly awry, gradually engulfing Osborne Cox's estranged wife (Tilda Swinton) and her lover (George Clooney), whose involvement triggers a series of tragic consequences. In "Burn After Reading" Joel and Ethan Coen take on the spy thriller genre and reinvent it in their unique voice - combining humor and violence in completely unexpected ways, and wrapping it all up with a the verbal dexterity that makes their work so distinctive. ... Read more

Product Description
Completely revised and updated, this book collects the best interviews, articles, and film reviews of director/screenwriter Joel Coen and producer/screenwriter Ethan Coen. Together, the brothers have created such cult classics as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the Oscar-winning Fargo, earning themselves a reputation for brilliance at offbeat black comedy. This publication, featuring dozens of photographs, coincides with the release of the new Coen brothers film Intolerable Cruelty, starring George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Billy Bob Thorton. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Skip to the Good Parts
I am an independant film maker in LA.I am an avid Coen brothers fan.Bottom line this book has too much repetition.Which says to me the editor is the problem.Numerous reviews of the same film and the same interviewquestions with the same answers made me feel like I was taking a short termmemory test.If I read one more time how these guys "first got intofilm making" I was going to... well suffice to say by the middle ofthe book I was skipping pages on a regular basis.The best parts we'rereading their first hand commentary of the making of the films.Frominitial ideas to story lines to casting to on-set dinamics to postproduction.Overall I could have gotten the same info from reading halfthe book though, and in the end that's what I did.Just skip to theinterviews and read the highlighted questions that haven't been askedbefore.It'll save you time and aggrivation. ... Read more

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In 2008 No Country for Old Men won the Academy Award for Best Picture, adding to the reputation of filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, who were already known for pushing the boundaries of genre. They had already made films that redefined the gangster movie, the screwball comedy, the fable, and the film noir, among others. No Country is just one of many Coen brothers films to center on the struggles of complex characters to understand themselves and their places in the strange worlds they inhabit. To borrow a phrase from Barton Fink, all Coen films explore "the life of the mind" and show that the human condition can often be simultaneously comic and tragic, profound and absurd. In The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers, editor Mark T. Conard and other noted scholars explore the challenging moral and philosophical terrain of the Coen repertoire. Several authors connect the Coens' most widely known plots and characters to the shadowy, violent, and morally ambiguous world of classic film noir and its modern counterpart, neo-noir. As these essays reveal, Coen films often share noir's essential philosophical assumptions: power corrupts, evil is real, and human control of fate is an illusion. In Fargo, not even Minnesota's blankets of snow can hide Jerry Lundegaard's crimes or brighten his long, dark night of the soul. Coen films that stylistically depart from film noir still bear the influence of the genre's prevailing philosophical systems. The tale of love, marriage, betrayal, and divorce in Intolerable Cruelty transcends the plight of the characters to illuminate competing theories of justice. Even in lighter fare, such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, the comedy emerges from characters' journeys to the brink of an amoral abyss. However, the Coens often knowingly and gleefully subvert conventions and occasionally offer symbolic rebirths and other hopeful outcomes. At the end of The Big Lebowski, the Dude abides, his laziness has become a virtue, and the human comedy is perpetuating itself with the promised arrival of a newborn Lebowski. The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers sheds new light on these cinematic visionaries and their films' stirring philosophical insights. From Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men, the Coens' films feature characters who hunger for meaning in shared human experience -- they are looking for answers. A select few of their protagonists find affirmation and redemption, but for many others, the quest for answers leads, at best, only to more questions.

Customer Reviews (2)

Rebirth of Tragedy
Friedrich Nietzsche believed for a time that the composer Richard Wagner would be able to unite all the noble impulses of art into an opera capable of sublimating European culture, just as classical tragedy ennobled the Athenians.Wagner failed, even in Nietzsche's judgement, but I am reminded of him every time I see a Coen Brothers film.Like Wagner, they have created a stage upon which the plastic/Apollonian (cinematography, lighting, set and costume) engages the musical/Dionysian (script, drama, soundtrack).But where Wagner failed,the Coens have succeeded.Their films together constitute the rebirth of tragedy here in modern America - a multimedia art of moral choice, with a philosophical vocabulary and contemporary significance.There's nothing deeper or more relevant on the American scene.

And I guess that accounts for just why this book so utterly blows the doors off any other "Philosophy of" book I've encountered.Like Woody Allen or Stanley Kubrick, the Coens produce film that is not merely philosophical, but is philosophy itself - the kind of art that drives fans to study philosophy in the first place.

But, in approaching the Coens, you do need some guidance.These are two guys who know the canon, cold, from Homer (O Brother Where Art Though) to Kant (See Walter in the Big Lebowski) to Heidegger (Barton Fink).At least part of the opacity of their films stems from the audiences unfamiliarity with these themes.And this is where this book comes in handy.This is a collection of truly thoughtful, high caliber works of scholarly criticism.It is so much better than similar titles like "The Simpsons and Philosophy" that I kinda wish it had a different title.

Oh well, bottom line: if you like either philosophy or the Coen Brothers, you'll LOVE this book.Expect to gain new insights on Barton Fink's wallpaper, the Dude's relationship with the old cowboy, and the nature of Anton Chigurgh.The authors are all philosophers, but they clearly love and understand film, and come at some of these problems from a film-studies perspective.I can only hope the same people involved in this will follow up with a "Philosophy of David Lynch."

Coen Brothers' Movies plus America equals mirror . . .
This book provides a fantastic and long overdue intertextual analysis of what the Coen Brothers have aimed to capture on screen and harness from the soul . . . what emerges most strongly is a sense of how terribly important NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has been in terms of narrative evolution and an exchange of meta-cinema for a kind of pure storytelling - similar in structure and effect to the brutally succinct writings of William S. Burroughs. I recommend this book highly, because this is the time for more of us to look extra hard at the work of the Coen Brothers . . . their filmic America stands now as a very reliable and unrusted mirror of where we all are today . . . and may NOT be tomorrow. ... Read more

Product Description
With their quirky, arresting, comic, and intelligent movies, Ethan and Joel Coen have carved out their niche as America's preeminent independent filmmakers. Now, in a prose style that complements the Coens' filmic one, this book dissects the brothers' latest endeavor, "The Big Lebowski", to reveal how the movie goes from idea to reality, offering a discussion of the Coens' themes, atypical brand of humor, and artistic vision. 162 photos, 32 in color.Amazon.com Review
Since their debut with Blood Simple in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coenhave created a unique body of work that seems to project their combinedimaginations directly onto the movie screen. By concentrating on thefilming of their homage to Raymond Chandler, The Big Lebowski, thisbook provides a great deal of insight into the way that these extraordinaryfilmmakers take an idea and transform it into a movie.

Text and illustrations combine to reveal the Coens' combination ofquirkiness and craft, and the ways that the singular (or is it binary?)vision of the brothers combines with actors and crew in the group effortnecessary to produce a finished film.This book doesn't attempt a criticalanalysis of the work of Joel and Ethan Coen--the complexity of their visionresists such an approach. Instead, we're treated to a fly-on-the-wall viewof the creative process, and it's enough to get the most casual film loverto grab a notebook, rent a camera, and start making movies! --SimonLeake ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Just ok.
Book was ok. Entertaining? Eh. Informative? Maybe 1/8 of the content was interesting. There is a lot of repetitive writing about the movie. Describing scenes and what have you. Seems like a friend of the Coens' gathered some watered down memories over the years, interviewed some people, and slapped together the book. It's put together nicely, but I think if it were more concentrated with information... If the interviews and insight were like a director's bonus track on a dvd, providing insight on what was going on, problems, mistakes, improv... This seems too little to scratch the surface.

My favorite part was the preproduction storyboards and costume designs included at the end. But they were few. Select scenes and boards. This could have made a wonderful coffee table hardcover if it was more in depth. Comparing boards to actual scene stills. Including insight from the directors, actors, behind the scenes people... etc..

I made it through since I am a big fan of the movie and the Coens' work. There was nothing ground breaking here.

Lewbowski Rules!
I am glad I got this book.It proves to me how much the Big Lewboski really rocks!

Worst "book report" ever
I've never felt so intellectually abused by a book as to resort to writing a scathing review like this on Amazon. This book is mind-bogglingly aweful! It reads like an 8th grade book report. It has no pretense of a plot and does amazingly little to actually delve into the making of the Big Lebowski. Don't buy it! Half of it is literally just the author monotonously describing what *happens* in the Big Lebowski. YES, repeating what you've watched in the movie!! Page upon page reads like "and then the dude goes into...and then...and then..." Much of the rest is an incredibly egotistical author bragging about how "in" he is with the Coens and prattling on about his interactions with them and how well he knows them. The author's grasp of english is profoundly poor and his "hip" slang falls utterly flat and non-sensical as he tries to invent numerous non-words. Even the pictures have nothing to do with their placement in the text. The ONLY redeeming characteristic of the book is that the author includes many long quotes from the Coens and the people who work closely with them.

A Great Read For Filmmaking Enthusiasts
Every once and while I look for books to re-inspire my need to make films. This is one of those useful books for people interested in the real filmmaking process. This book doesn't have useless interviews about how much fun the actors had working with a director but covers every thought and decision the crew had to make in the production. If you're a Coen Brother's fan, you'll also be interested to gain some insight into how they invent and produce their signiture films.

One of the best books written about the Coens
This book was co-written by William Preston Robertson who is someone, if you've studied the end credits of the Coens' early film, who has worked on their films in various capacities. He's often provided voiceovers where needed and even offered a place for them to crash when they developed writer's block while working on the screenplay for Miller's Crossing.

So, he writes this book with an insider's perspective. At every opportunity he makes fun of them (as only a close friend can) and spends the first part of the book tracing their career up to The Big Lebowski. The rest of the book plays out as a quasi-Making Of that is quite an entertaining read. For example, he places their film in the grand tradition of bowling noir, a very rarified subgenre of the film noir. Robertson is quite funny as he pontificates about this subgenre at some length.

If I had one complaint about the book is the amount of detail that is gone into about the storyboarding process which I could have done without. But this is a minor quibble at best.

Robertson's style of writing is very casual and easy to read--it won't take you long to get through this book. If you are a hardcore fan of the Coens, then you will definitely enjoy this book and all the little, inside jokes. It will certainly deepen your appreciation for the film and acts as a great companion-piece. ... Read more

Product Description

The Brothers Coen: Unique Characters of Violence spans the career of the two-time Oscar-winning producer/director team, exploring the theme of violence that runs through a genre-spanning body of work, from the neo-noir of Blood Simple to the brutal comedy Burn After Reading (2008).

In chapters focusing on major characters, Ryan Doom looks at the chaotic cinematic universe of the Coens, where violent acts inevitably have devastating, unintended consequences. The remarkable gallery of Coen characters are all here: hardboiled gangster Tom Regan from Miller's Crossing (1990), overmatched amateur kidnapper Jerry Lundergaard from Fargo (1996), accidental private eye "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski (1998), psychopathic assassin-for-hire Anton Chigurh from the 2007 Academy Award winner No Country for Old Men, and more.

Customer Reviews (2)

fervor and fury of the Coen's character
I am a huge fan of the Coen brothers.All their films are unique in every avenue of movie making.The author, Ryan Doom, explores these characters on every level.Doom is very clear and concise on analyzing these motley characters, which I loved!I was intrigued by Doom's style of writing.If you are a fan of the Coen brothers, I would highly recommend this book. There are many filmmakers out in the world, but the Coen's are in the major leagues of movies, very eclectic and original. Doom does an excellent job of laying out the foundation and the many doors into each character and film.


Have fun kiddies in this "Theater of Pain" book!!!!! As the crypt keeper says...

A+++++

Great book for any Coen brothers fan.
I have been a huge fan of the Coen brothers' work and have seen all of their movies.I saw this book and was interested on someone else's take on their collective works.The author does a great job of touching on all of the unique (and recurring) themes of all the movies.I would highly recommend this book to other readers, either die hard fans or even casual fans.I was also pleased with the production value.Goes to show that it takes more than a broccoli stick to put together a good book.

Enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
With landmark films such as Fargo, O Brother Where art Thou?, Blood Simple, and Raising Arizona, the Coen brothers have achieved both critical and commercial success. Proving the existence of a viable market for "small" films that are also intellectually rewarding, their work has exploded generic conventions amid rich webs of trans-textural references. In Joel and Ethan Coen, R. Barton Palmer argues that the Coen oeuvre also forms a central element in what might be called postmodernist filmmaking. Mixing high and low cultural sources and blurring genres like noir and comedy, the use of pastiche and anti-realist elements in films such as The Hudsucker Proxy and Barton Fink clearly fit the postmodernist paradigm. Palmer argues that for a full understanding of the Coen brothers unique position within film culture, it is important to see how they have developed a new type of text within general postmodernist practice that Palmer terms commercial/independent. Analyzing their substantial body of work from this "generic" framework is the central focus on this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Joel and Ethan Coen (b. 1954, 1957) started their careers in obscurity on a shoestring budget cajoled from family and friends in Minneapolis. Working entirely outside the studio system, the Coen brothers scored an unlikely first success in 1984 with their postmodern noir film Blood Simple.Two decades and nearly a dozen movies later, the Coens are now among the best-known writer/directors in Hollywood, turning out major studio releases featuring stars such as George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Tom Hanks.

The Coens’ films all share a distinctive, quirky ambience that critics have come to identify as "that Coen brothers feeling." Tricky moving camera work; frequent use of the voiceover; homages to directors and cinematic genres; a fascination with unexpected, off-kilter violence; and omnipresent black humor are all defining elements of the Coens’ cinematic world.

From such highly stylized movies as Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn’t There to more mainstream but dark comedies such as Raising Arizona, Intolerable Cruelty, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coens are equally at home with existential despair and comic exuberance, and are known for scripts packed with an obvious love for language. This collection of their most important interviews spans twenty years and is the most comprehensive published on the brothers. ... Read more

Product Description
An analysis of the Coen oeuvre through O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).The authors, German film critics, include a previously unpublished interview with the filmmaking brothers on their off-center work in genres they both satirize and pay tribute to: film noir, horror, screwball comedy, and buddy escapade. As Ethan Coen says: 'We grew up in America, and we tell American stories in American settings within American frames of reference. Perhaps our way of reflecting our system is more comprehensible to non-Americans because they already see the system as something alien." ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The award winning Barton Fink is a dark psychological thriller set in Hollywood in the 1940s. It concerns an aspiring writer who gradually becomes sucked into a grisly world of violence and terror. Miller's Crossing reinvents the 1930s gangster film in a complex story of love, friendship, and betrayal.

Also in this edition is an introduction by Coen brothers' sometime editor Roderick Jaynes, who offers a rare insight into their world.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Roderick Jaynes = Joel and Ethan Coen
I fully agree with everything the other reviewer has said, but I thought it should be noted that Roderick Jaynes is the psuedonym under which the Coens both jointly edit their movies

that should make the dour introduction all the more enjoyable for the Coen fans out there

Two of the Finest Screenplays of the Last Ten Years
The Coen brother's films have never failed to astonish and entertain me. From BLOOD SIMPLE to FARGO, they have shown an uncanny knack for vividcharacteriziations and photographic style.

But the question is, are thescripts as good by themselves?

Thankfully, the answer is yes.The Coen'sscripted prose is dramatically satisfying, and makes one yearn to see thefilms again, which is the highest compliment I can give them.

BARTON FINKis a bold and unusual piece, centred on a playwright who ends up sellinghis soul in Hollywood.It may sound like the usual pointless drivel, butthe Coen's take a surprisingly dark twist into the bizarre, with insaneroommates, creepy bellhops, and drunken authors.It only never fullycaptures the ominous presence of the hotel Barton stays in.On film, it isthe most foreboding motel since Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING.

MILLER'SCROSSING (my favorite film of ALL time) is a different period piece.Itcentres on Irish gangsters in the 1930's.But while the plot is aningenious homage to the gangster film's of Bogart and Cagney, it is thedialogue which makes it shine.Once again, astonishing characterizationsrule the day, as the conflicted Tom Regan plays both sides against eachother for reasons even he may not understand.

An added bonus is theintroduction, written by the Coen's sometime film editor.It is an unusualchoice, as he goes to great lengths to describe how much he does NOT likethe scripts, or film in general.It serves to heighten interest in theircontent, and does prove that the Coens are not for everyone.For those ofus you cannot wait for their next film, this is a treat. ... Read more