Throughout the movie a few aspects of film can be seen that reverberate through The Coen's other movies. One of these aspects is the dream sequence/retelling of them.
A multitude of times throughout the film the Dude either gets knocked out/drugged/ other incapacitating effect and slips into a dream world. This is not unlike the dreams that happen in Raising Arizona in that they have a very ethereal quality to them and, in this movie, are just plain ridiculous. In this video clip it is apparent the extent they go through in putting in the dream sequences, where in reality they really have nothing to do with the plot besides in a way summing up pieces of the events that happened so far.
This dream sequence in the Coen Brother films can be seen as previously mentioned in Raising Arizona and to a lesser and more serious degree in the end of No Country For Old Men with Ed Tom telling his wife about a dream that he had. This shows that dreams have a significant place in Coen Brother movies and are a common thread between all of their work.
Another reoccurring element that finds its place in their work is a hunt for someone or something. In Raising Arizona the main villain, Leonard Smalls, is after the baby that Nicholas Cage stole. In Fargo, Marge Gunderson is hot on the trail of a murder occurring bizarrely in her area. In No Country For Old Men Anton Chigurh chases Llewellyn Moss across the state of Texas in order to find money that he stole. This can be seen in The Big Lebowski yet again with the disappearance of Mr. Lebowski's wife Bunny, which later turns into a hunt for the person who stole the money Lebowski was given to find her out of his car. The difference in this movie unlike the other movies is that the supposed crook who stole his money is a 15 Year old "brat" named Larry (at least they assume it to be". Unlike the other villains who are chasing or being chased, Larry is a very dull looking boy, as shown here
The Coen brother's use this element of pursuit in all of the films that we watched but mix it up a bit in the process; sometimes showing us both points of view of the people in question (No Country for Old Men) and sometimes only showing us one side of the chase (The Big Lebowski). Which ever way they show it, it is important to note the importance of this element of pursuit that link together all their films.
One last element of the Coen Brothers that can be seen throughout their movies is the fact that they use very imaginative and unique camera angles. This is most apparent in the first dream sequence in The Big Lebowski where they mount a camera inside of a bowling ball sending it down the lane so we actually kinda get the feel of what its like to be a bowling ball. They do interesting shots, though perhaps not as original, in their other movies such as Raising with the chase scene in the super market where they have the camera at a lower angle as though it were a dog, or in the other chase scene in No Country For Old Men where the whole time in shifts between close up shots and long shots giving the claustrophobic hopelessness of Llywellyn's character with the range that Anton Chigurh has with his rifle. These elements really make the film's all that more interesting to watch and lets the viewer give respect to the technical prowess that has to go into these shots.
Overall the Coen Brother's have many elements that tie their films together even though they are so drastically different from one another. It is through this ability that they have gained so much acclaim and are considered some of the best film makers of this generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment