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Review

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Director

Joel Coen

Year

2000

Rating

Reviewed by

a.k.a. Jacinda

Review date

Tuesday, October 24, 2000

Being a fan of all of the Coen brother's movies I had to see this one - besides Clooney is in it. =)

I had expected a lot of surreal scenes as usual and indeed the movie had lots of odd moments but it was different from all the other Coen films I had seen so far. The movie is a modern version of Homer's Odyssey set in the Depression era in America's deep South.

Three prisoners (George Clooney, John Torturro and Tim Blake Nelson) escape from a Mississippi chain gang and try to find their way home. Actually it's difficult to describe the journey as it has not a normal storyline. They meet odd people and rather uncommon things happen. Before I went to see the movie I thought I had good knowledge of The Odyssey but I could only find a few similarities to the original by Homer. Either I was wrong and I didn't know that much or the Coens interpreted the original in a liberal way. I suppose it´s the second. Mainly I could make out the cyclops (brilliantly played by John Goodman), the sirens and a possible Homer (blind man). It was a weird experience to actually watch the movie as the story is so bizarre but I enjoyed it a lot.

The movie lives through its rich green and yellow colors and the Southern music. There are some great, hilarious scenes (watch out for the Ku Klux clan) and characters (I loved "The Practice"'s Michael Badalucci as gangster Babyface). Clooney reminded me of Clark Gable - with a hair net though.

The film deals ironically with the agenda of the Southern states and adds some absurd elements to the scenario. My final statement would be that the Coen brothers have managed to create an original piece of art once again.

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Other reviews of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000): Groucho