Director Ethan Coen (1957)

Hail, Caesar! (2016) is a period black comedy film that takes place in 1951 Hollywood. Eddie Mannix, head of property protection at Capitol Pictures, has the crucial job of shielding the studio’s stars from scandal and upholding their desired public image. Unfortunately, this responsibility leads him to frequent visits to the Catholic church confessional, much to the chagrin of the clergy. Despite his wife’s urgent requests, Eddie struggles to quit smoking on a day that’s even worse than usual – and ‘usual’ is already pretty bad for him. To add to his troubles, DeeAnna Moran, the wholesome and unmarried ‘mermaid’ of the ...

The American Western film True Grit (2010) was directed, written, produced, and edited by the Coen brothers. While traveling to Fort Smith, Arkansas, fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross’s father is killed by hired hand Tom Chaney. Upon arriving in town to collect her father’s body, Mattie learns that Chaney has most likely escaped with “Lucky” Ned Pepper and his gang into Indian Territory, where the local sheriff has no jurisdiction. Wanting to bring Chaney to justice, Mattie seeks out a Deputy U.S. Marshal and receives three recommendations from the sheriff. Ultimately, she chooses Rooster Cogburn due ...

Burn After Reading (2008) is a black comedy film created by the Coen brothers. When Osbourne Cox gets demoted for drinking, he quits his job as a CIA analyst and decides to write a memoir. His wife Katie secretly files for divorce and resumes her affair with U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer, who is prone to paranoia. Katie gives her lawyer a copy of Osbourne’s digital records and other personal files, which include an early draft of his memoir. The lawyer’s assistant copies the files onto a CD-R and accidentally leaves it at Hardbodies gym. Personal trainer Chad Feldheimer and coworker Linda Litzke come across the ...

No Country for Old Men (2007), an American neo-Western crime thriller film directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen, is based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel with the same name. In 1980, Anton Chigurh, a hitman, is arrested in Texas but manages to escape by strangling a sheriff’s deputy. He then steals a car using a captive bolt pistol to kill the driver. Meanwhile, Llewelyn Moss is hunting pronghorns in the desert when he stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong. Among the scene are several dead men, a wounded ...

To Each His Own Cinema (2007) is a French comedy-drama anthology film created for the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. It showcases 34 short films, each 3 minutes long, by 36 renowned directors from various parts of the world. The filmmakers were invited to express ‘their state of mind of the moment as inspired by the motion picture theatre’. The film’s subtitle, ‘a declaration of love to the big screen’, captures its overall theme. Many of the shorts touch on similar topics such as paying tribute to classic European art cinema, reflecting on the decline of movie-going, recollecting childhood awe, and exploring the ...

In the film Paris, I love you (2006), 20 different filmmakers each capture five-minute moments in the magical City of Love. These moments are linked together through transitional interstitial sequences and an introduction and epilogue. The transitions smoothly connect the previous film’s ending shot to the following film’s beginning shot, creating a continuous flow and building anticipation for what comes next. Through this technique, we witness the vibrant life of Paris through a recurring mysterious character and a common theme of love that ties all 20 segments together. 01. Tuileries (

The Coen brothers‘ film, The Ladykillers (2004), features an unlikely group of characters. When stern and devout widow Mrs. Marva Munson rents a room to Professor Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr, she has no idea he plans to use her root cellar for rehearsals with his early music ensemble. What Mrs. Munson doesn’t realize is that this “ensemble” is actually a gang of criminals. Led by Dorr, the group includes Lump, a not-so-bright football player serving as their muscle; Garth Pancake, an overconfident movie effects technician with IBS; the crude and disheveled Gawain McSam as their inside man; and ...

Intolerable Cruelty (2003), an American romantic comedy directed by the Coen brothers, follows Donovan Donaly, a TV soap opera producer who discovers his wife Bonnie with an ex-boyfriend. After filing for divorce, Bonnie hires Miles Massey, a renowned divorce attorney known for his ‘Massey pre-nup’ which guarantees airtight prenuptial agreements. As Donaly is left bankrupt from the settlement, private investigator Gus Petch captures wealthy and married Rex Rexroth in a drunken affair with a blonde. When Gus presents the video to Marylin Rexroth, a woman infamous for marrying for money, she demands a hefty ...

The film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is a clever mix of satire and drama, written, produced, co-edited, and directed by the talented duo Joel and Ethan Coen. Three prisoners – Pete, Delmar, and their leader Ulysses Everett McGill – flee from a chain gang in order to find a hidden fortune before the area is flooded. Along the way, they receive help from a blind man on a railway handcar who warns them that their reward may not be what they expect. Seeking refuge at Wash’s home – Pete’s cousin – the trio incurs the wrath of Sheriff ...

The black comedy crime film, Fargo (1996), was written, directed and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen. In the year 1987, Jerry Lundegaard, an executive sales manager at a Minneapolis car dealership owned by his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson, finds himself in desperate need of money. He devises a plan to have his wife Jean kidnapped. Shep Proudfoot, a mechanic and convicted felon, sets up a meeting for Jerry in Fargo, North Dakota with criminals Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud. They agree to carry out the job. In exchange for their services, Jerry gives them a new ...