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» Columns » Reviews » Screenplays » Short Stories
| ANDREW BURDEN O Brother Where Art Thou?
AGE RESTRICTION: PG 13 The Coen brothers are back and all logic-loving people should stand well clear. Arguably Hollywood’s most offbeat creative duo; the men behind Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy and Fargo, seem to have done it again with this madcap adventure starring George Clooney. The concept is simple: O Brother Where Art Thou is a fugitive comedy set early in the 20th century. Less simple is the fact that the film is an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. The story revolves around convict Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney) and his companions, Pete and Delmar. They escape from a chain gang and make their way across country in search of treasure McGill claims to have hidden. Guided mostly by misfortune and fate the trio encounter the Cyclops in the form of ‘Big Dan’ Teague, a travelling bible salesman, the mesmerising Cajun sirens, and an assortment of other weird and wonderful characters along the way. Typically the physical comedy dominates the film, but it is at the stylistic level where the film is most interesting with images straight from Steinbeck or Chaplin. The concept is not as outrageous as one might think and works quite well, for the most part. The humour is fresh, absurd and rarely tiresome. Ironically, for an anarchic film, the pace tends toward the sedentary and while this in itself is not enough to ruin the film, it does hinder the exposition of the story. The actors are finely placed with Clooney displaying more versatility than most would credit him for, and showing more than just a fleeting resemblance to Clark Gable. Holly Hunter and John Turturro have featured in previous Coen films and seem right at home amid the cow killers, Klu Klux clan dance shows, and deals with the devil.
O Brother
Where Art Thou is certainly not the definitive Coen Brothers film, but is nonetheless a worthy addition to their body of work, and makes for an original and unpredictable evening’s entertainment.
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