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Monday, January 07, 2008
The Rock Legend Who Wasn't There
Screenwriter Todd Alcott has been examining the films of the Coen Bros. on his blog (not only is the guy smart he actually had a small role in The Hudsucker Proxy). It's all good stuff but of particular interest to me was this post about The Man Who Wasn't There that discusses the Coens, Charles Schulz and Bob Dylan, all Minnesotans, in its introduction.
Alcott writes about the stoic Midwestern mindset which asks one to not call attention to oneself. For Dylan its used as a possible explanation of why he tries on so many different masks. He seems to want to hide something, fulfilling the quiet Minnesota tradition. Wearing a mask also allows Dylan to become a larger than life figure. That desire seemed to just as strong to Dylan as becoming obscure. Hey, we have to love our contradictions. Granted, the latter desire lessened as he grew older. I suppose that matches the personalties of most people. From what I've seen when people hit thirty the great visions they have for themselves drift away as reality sets in.
These late night ramblings are preparing us for when I attack Highway 61 Revisited, which I hope to this week. I only have a loose grasp of what I want to talk about but I can tell you right now it will be partly informed by Tom Scharpling's review of I'm Not There. He didn't like it. I'm probably not even going to seen until it comes out on DVD. By then I'll probably be writing about Empire Burlesque or his stuff with the Traveling Wilburys.
Back to the Coens, The Man Who Wasn't There is one of my favorite films of their's. That film did for me what Sin City does for so many others. It has a lot of my favorite film aesthetics that I just love to bathe in. It seemed to be overshadowed because O Brother Where Art Thou was still in the public mind and The Man Who Wasn't There doesn't really jibe with the other film. The same thing happened with The Big Lebowski being overshadowed by Fargo. I think No Country For Old Men deserves all the hosannas it's getting I just hope the next Coen Bros. film gets lost in the shuffle. Consulting IMDb I see the next film stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney in some kind of caper so maybe there's no reason to worry. But what's this!? They're not working with cinematographer Roger Deakins this time? What will the film nerds of the world have to say about this?
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