The Coen Brothers might be the most talented and exciting American filmmakers who have come into their own during the last twenty-five years but yet their oeuvre remains elusive and difficult to wholeheartedly embrace. The admiration for mavericks like Capra, Sturges and Peckinpah is obvious but unlike their mentors they seem reluctant, or unwilling, to nurture their foolhardy protagonists. The tendency towards irony stifles plenty of good intentions. Still, they are to commended for their artistic ambition and it seems likely the best is yet to come.

1986  Blood Simple. ***
1987  Raising Arizona ***
1990  Miller’s Crossing ****
1991  Barton Fink ***1/2
1994  The Hudsucker Proxy ***
1996  Fargo ***1/2
1998  The Big Lebowski ***
2000  O Brother, Where Art Thou? ***1/2
2001  The Man Who Wasn’t There ***
2007  No Country for Old Men ***1/2
2008  Burn After Reading ***
2009  A Serious Man ***1/2
2010  True Grit ***1/2
2013  Inside Llewyn Davis ***1/2