Burn After Reading
You must first know (if you don't know me well already) that I am a full out Coen brothers fanatic. I have always loved everything they have done to an extreme. I have rated every single movie they have directed a 10 out of 10 except for their first Blood Simple which just about made it there with a 9 out of 10. Yes even the often despised The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty for me are amongst my top tier of most enjoyable cinema. Some may argue that their work was so formative in my love of film altogether and has grown to such hyperbolic proportions that I no longer have a real critical eye for any of their work and would be blind to any real sub-par work they may have or will ever release. Perhaps this is true in a ways, but as long as I truely am enjoying myself watching their movies I have no reason to feel bad. And I LOVE THEM ALL!
So obviously I had been looking forward to Burn After Reading. Just to start with, the title is a wonderful thing. I was of course really looking forward to this one, like I always do. Here are some of the Coen staples this time around:
-Someone seeking large sums of money (is there any of their movies that doesn't feature this?)
-A very American culture or setting (fitness club chain).
-A clashing of personalities
-Inept people with their own agendas
-Lots of swearing and sudden violence mixed with absurd humor
-George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins
After their much praised Oscar winner No Country For Men, seen as probably their darkest and humorless (although there still is a lot in there)yet, the Coens I think have followed up with a lot of the same themes but having oh so much more fun with it.
*spoilers* They are able to take a genre and play with the conventions. They put in such original and distinct characters. And you know they had a lot of fun with top A-List celebrities, turning George Cloony into such a quirky pervert, and killing off Brad Pitt, who plays the most lovable character suddenly halfway through the movie. I think your reaction to that scene where Brad Pitt's character is shot is a kind of indicator of your attitudes towards Hollywood as a culture and certain conventions in Hollywood movies. For instance there was a guy in the movie theater who could not stop laughing very long and loud after he was shot, and his girlfriend kept hitting him and saying "Stop it! What's the matter with you? Why are you laughing?!" It made everyone else in the theatre laugh even more. I think the people who are laughing are the people who get that the Coens do not make much of the celebrity worship in this culture where A-List actors must always look good in their movies and be the center of attention until the end. They recognize that Brad Pitt has talent, let's make him act real goofy, people will be surprised they like it, but then we will kill him off halfway through the movie, because you'd never expect that to happen to Brad in a normal Hollywood movie where he is top billed like that. Maybe I'm off, but that's kind of how I sensed it. Thanks to my friend Noah for pointing this out.
A lot of Coen brothers movies have some kind of retribution to characters for bad behaviors or attitudes. Some of them end with wonderful little phrases that try to give some kind of hope or victory for the good guy. The "There's more to life than a little money, you know" speech that Marge gives at the end of Fargo that for instance. That part really gets me emotional after all that happened, brings a tear to my eye. Whereas I pulled this excerpt from the very end of Burn After Reading from the Internet Movie Script Database.
GARDNER CHUBB (CONT'D)
... What did we learn, Palmer.
PALMER
I don't know, sir.
GARDNER CHUBB
I don't fucking know either. I guess
we learned not to do it again.
PALMER
Yes sir.
GARDNER CHUBB
Although I'm fucked if I know what we
did.
PALMER
Yes sir. Hard to say.
In this movie the madness and depravity really has no explanation. And you know, sometimes life is like that. There's a beautiful, happy and sad truth to the final summary in all of the Coen brothers films I'd say.
I can't wait for their next one!
Rating: 10/10