Conor Bryce looks at the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Ask ten people their favourite Coen Brothers film, and you’ll likely get ten different answers. Hollywood’s greatest chameleons have a ship in practically every port – from the slapstick comedy of Raising Arizona to the pitch-black neo-noir of Fargo, there’s something for everyone.
The common thread running the length of the Coens’ wild filmography is their love of the peculiar – offbeat characters, twisty narratives and genre mashups in a richly imagined universe with its own visual language. This has never been better encapsulated than in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which turns 25 this year. It’s a road movie, a comedy, a historical, mythological epic. It’s an unabashed musical that ushered in a mainstream resurgence of a forgotten genre. It’s bonkers. And it’s completely, utterly beautiful.
Loosely based on Homer’s Ancient Greek poem The Odyssey and set in a Depression-era American South, O Brother, Where Art Thou? follows smooth-talking convict Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) and fellow jailbirds Pete and Delmar (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson respectively). Manacled together as part of a chain gang, the trio escape in search of treasure, which Everett claims is stashed in an area about to be flooded (in reality, Everett’s “treasure” is a reunion with his wife and daughters).
An encounter with a blind soothsayer pushing a one-man handcar on a railway (yes, really) kicks off a madcap tour of rural Mississippi on “a road fraught with peril”. Along the way they meet historical figures like bank robber “Baby Face” Nelson, and many nods to Homer’s tale like John Goodman’s sinister stand-in for The Odyssey‘s Cyclops – a violent, eyepatch-wearing bible salesman. They also record a smash hit song as ‘The Soggy Bottom Boys’, get seduced by moonshine-toting sirens, and escape their own hanging at the behest of the devil himself. Yes, really.
25 years is hardly a drop in the ocean, and since the release of O Brother, Where Art Thou? we’ve seen the rise (and fall?) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – with copycat multi-platform franchises of every IP going – alongside Disney’s plan to release a live action remake of every one of its original animations. As such, the concept of uniqueness is often an afterthought.
It’s nearly impossible to find a film quite like O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
It’s a film to smile and nod along to, in every sense. It takes its time – much like the treasure-seeking trio, this journey goes on many bizarre side-quests. It also looks gorgeous – the cinematography by Roger Deakins creates the feel of “an old picture book” as Deakins put it, basking us in a lazy, hazy sun.
And it’s not just our eyes getting a hug. You can’t talk about O Brother, Where Art Thou? without marvelling at the accompanying soundtrack, then sticking it on for another listen. Packed with Gospel, Country, Blues, and most prominently Bluegrass – a musical genre ‘father’ Bill Monroe likens to “blues and jazz, with a high lonesome sound” – the album went on to sell more than 7 million copies in the US alone, reawakening Americans to a musical heritage they’d forgotten they owned. The film introduced me to it, and I remain an ardent fan. Bluegrass fits the Coens’ trademark style perfectly – both are bright and breezy one moment, moody and contemplative the next, with a depth belying a quirky, catchy structure. It’s a shotgun wedding made in heaven. Standouts include The Soggy Bottom Boys blasting through an irresistibly upbeat cover of classic folk song I am a Man of Constant Sorrow, and the dulcet tones of Tim Blake Nelson himself crooning In the Jailhouse Now.
Another highlight of this rewatch was seeing a younger George Clooney on the precipice of a career-defining shift. It’s far from his first comedic role – he’s a veteran of TV series Roseanne, after all – and he’d also dabbled in offbeat films like Three Kings and Out of Sight. But his first foray into the world of the Coens knocked him off the path of slick blockbuster-starring leading man and into more eclectic, character actor roles in the Oceans series (hugely successful but essentially modern independent projects from Steven Soderbergh), intense dramas like Syriana and Michael Clayton, and heady Sci-Fi like Solaris and Gravity.
Clooney also credits his time in front of the Coens and Soderbergh as a major influence in his decision to direct and produce, a string of solid efforts leading all the way to Best Picture Oscar glory with Argo (Argo…Fargo…coincidence?).
The stacked supporting cast also delivers, with long-time Coen collaborators like Goodman, Turturro, Holly Hunter, and Stephen Root effortlessly slipping into weird, eclectic roles. Of the newcomers, Tim Blake Nelson particularly shines, and not just when he’s singing; his simple, lovable Delmar encapsulates the film’s joyful energy. And there’s a veritable who’s who of music stars on hand to supply the singing voices; from veterans like Ralph Stanley to the more contemporary Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss.
I’d wager a sack of pilfered banknotes that the Coens have never had as much fun as they did making this film. It clearly shows, and is infectious. In the last 25 years they may have attained a more confident, assured penmanship and become more visually confident directors. But O Brother, Where Art Thou? is their zenith as filmmakers, a showcase of their many strengths.
The exact point of the film is hard to pin down. At the time of its release, Roger Ebert called it “a series of bright ideas wondering why they had all been invited to the same film.” But maybe that IS the point. I don’t understand why the sound of a Bluegrass banjo makes me long for a time and place I’ve never called home. It just feels like it. This eccentric, moonshine-soaked ode to old-timey joy feels like home to me. And as Everett himself puts it, “it’s a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart.”
Hot damn! Catch The Soggy Bottom Boys at the IFI – O Brother is where thou should be.
