The brothers Coen are flying pretty high, what with winning a few Oscars last Sunday for their masterful film No Country for Old Men. It's out on DVD this coming week, which is what distribution companies like to refer to as "perfect timing." The movie is brilliant -- seek it out, pick it up, and all that jazz. I will say, however, that if you're not a Coen Brothers fan, the film will do nothing to change your mind.

Now I've noticed something strange among Coen fans. I know a lot of them who love The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona and Fargo, etc. Most of them are even fans of The Hudsucker Proxy. But I'm continually amazed at how many fans have never seen one of the brothers' absolute best entries: 1990's Miller's Crossing. If you've seen the movie, you know why I'm about to get on the soapbox. For everyone else ...

Go see this movie

Just do yourself a favor and listen to your Uncle Dre. It's one of the great and original mob films. The Coens are clearly fans of Dashiell Hammett, particularly The Glass Key, and this makes for a marriage I've found worth revisiting time and time again. The dialogue is crisp as a McIntosh apple, with enough frisky lingo to make your head spin. I challenge anyone who walks out of this movie not to start asking your friends, "What's the rumpus?"

The plot is labyrinthian and the ending strangely touching. The movie usually requires two viewings: the first viewing is just to get your bearings (tonally, the film may feel all over the place the first time you see it); the second is to let the film's greatness wash over you. The dialogue is so colorful that you may miss some of what's actually being said, especially the undercurrent stuff. And few Coen films have better characters than this one does. It helps that Coen regulars (before they were regulars) are on hand: Jon Polito, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro. But it's the non-Coen regulars ... Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden and Gabriel Byrne (playing lead Tom Reagan, one of my favorite onscreen creations) that knock it out of the park.

I can go on and talk about the beautiful cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld, the literary and brainy themes, Carter Burwell's fine score or classic moments like the "Danny Boy" tommy gun sequence (Warning: Some graphic violence). But I've gushed far too long already and you may have more than one Coen film to watch this week.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. Email him!

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us