Jesse Coen Brothers Film Analysis

Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, known informally as the Coen Brothers, are American film directors, screenwriters, producers, and editors. They have directed over 15 films together that are often characterized as being "genre-bending", having covered many genres, including comedy, crime, the Western, horror, thriller, gangster, drama, romance, adventure and features of neo-noir.
Their films include Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis .
The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often

alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. They have been nominated for twelve Academy Awards together, plus one individual nomination for each, winning Best Original Screenplay for Fargo and Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men.
They have written a number of films neither of the brothers directed. These films include the biographical war drama Unbroken, and the historical drama thriller Bridge of Spies, as well as more obscure and unsuccessful comedy films such as Crimewave, The Naked Man, and Gambit.
In the 1980s sfter graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi, who was looking for an assistant editor on his first feature film The Evil Dead.
In 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together. Set in Texas, the film tells the tale of a shifty, sleazy bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover. The film contains elements that point to their future direction: distinctive homages to genre movies plot twists layered over a simple story, dark humor, and mise en scene. The film starred Frances McDormand, who would go on to feature in many of the Coen brothers' films. Upon release the film received much praise and won awards for Joel's direction at both the Sundance and Independent Spirit awards.
Their next project was Crimewave, directed by Sam Raimi and written by the Coens and Raimi. Joel and Raimi also made cameo appearances in Spies Like Us.
The brothers' next film was Raising Arizona, the story of an unlikely married couple: ex-convict H.I.

and police officer Ed, who long for a baby but are unable to conceive. When a local furniture tycoon appears on television with his newly born quintuplets and jokes that they "are more than we can handle", H.I. steals one of the quintuplets to bring up as their own. The film featured Frances McDormand, John Goodman, William Forsythe, Sam McMurray, and Randall "Tex" Cobb.
Miller's Crossing, released in 1990, starred Albert Finney, Gabriel Byrne, and John Turturro. The film is about feuding gangsters in the Prohibition era, inspired by Dashiell Hammett's novels Red Harvest and The Glass Key.
The following year, they released Barton Fink; set in 1941, in which a New York playwright moves to Los Angeles to write a B-movie. He settles down in his hotel room to commence writing but suffers writer's block until the man next door invades him. Barton Fink was a critical success, earning Oscar nominations and winning three major awards at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or. It was their first film with cinematographer Roger Deakins, a key collaborator for the next 15

years.
The Hudsucker Proxy was released in 1994. In it, the board of a large corporation in 1958 New York City appoints a naive schmo as president, to sabotage the firm's own share price, so the board could later purchase their company's stock cheaply to retain ownership. However, their plan backfires when the new president invents the hula-hoop. The film bombed at the box office, even though it featured Paul Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The Coens wrote and directed the crime thriller Fargo, set in their home state of Minnesota. Jerry Lundegaard, who has serious financial problems, has his wife kidnapped so that his wealthy father-in-law will pay the ransom. His plan goes wrong when the kidnappers deviate from the plan and local cop Marge Gunderson starts to investigate. Produced on a small budget of $7 million, Fargo was a critical and commercial success, with particular praise for its dialogue and McDormand's performance. The film received several awards, including a BAFTA award and Cannes award for direction, and two Oscars: a Best Original Screenplay and a Best Actress Oscar for McDormand.
In the Coens' next film, The Big Lebowski, "The Dude", a Los Angeles slacker, is used as an unwitting pawn in a kidnapping plot with his bowling buddies. Well received by critics, it is now regarded as a classic cult film.