Hail Caesar (aka Hail, Caesar!)

This week we screened the most recent film from the Coen Brothers: Hail Caesar.

early on in our society's existence we screened Fargo (on the basis that it is mandatory for all film societies to show it at some point in their existence), but Hail Caesar was quite different: a screwball comedy set in 19502 Hollywood. It went down well, but some people were a little disappointed by George Clooney's role, as it was quite different from his more box-office friendly work. I enjoyed it very much.

Here are my notes:

Hail, Caesar!

USA 2016                    104 minutes

Director:                      Ethan and Joel Coen

Starring:                        Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum

“The Coen brothers’ lovingly goofy latest comes on like a breezy flipside companion-piece to Barton Fink – a jaunt through the underbelly of old Hollywood which finds not the fiery hell of the tortured artist but the upbeat splash of synchronised swimming, On the Town toe-tapping and toga-wearing biblical balderdash. With a ramshackle plot that appears to have been cooked up after drawing deep on the Dude’s biggest bong, the film pinballs between awol movie stars, red-scare nightmares and Bikini Atoll bomb tests, while raising important questions of whether God is still angry (“what, he got over it?”), how to make a lasso out of spaghetti, and the secret of balancing a bunch of bananas on your head (it’s all in the hips, lips, eyes and thighs, apparently).”

Mark Kermode

In Hollywood in the 1950s Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) works for Capitol Pictures as a fixer whose role is to keep scandals relating to film stars out of the press. His current work load includes concealing the news that DeeAnna Morgan (Scarlett Johansson) is pregnant, rescuing alcoholic actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) from a group of kidnappers whose members include Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum), an actor currently filming a musical comedy about sailors, and arranging for Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) to cast young singing western film star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) in the period drama he is directing.

In Hollywood the 1950s was the time of the Cold War and the Red Scare: its response was to create escapist entertainment: westerns, musicals with extravagant dance sequences, aquatic spectacles and Roman epics with massive casts. The Coen Brothers saw the films of this period on TV when they were growing up and commented:

“We loved that stuff. We just didn’t realise we were watching crap.”

For the purposes of this film they re-created their own versions of these films and for verisimilitude shot them on film rather than employing digital cinematography which they have used for their most recent films.

The Coen Brothers first created Capital Pictures for Barton Fink (1991), but Eddie Mannix was a real character, although his real life was far more sordid than depicted in this film: he used his network of contacts to cover up, among other things, Judy Garland’s drug use, Great Garbo’s bi-sexuality, and was even suspected of involvement in the murder of Superman star George Reeves. The Guardian contains a regular feature called Reel History which a historian rates films based on real events for both Entertainment and History. For the former it receives an A- but a fail for the latter. In mitigation the article contains    the following verdict on the film:

 “The Coen brothers have done an Eddie Mannix on Eddie Mannix, covering up all the darkest, dirtiest parts of his story to create a sparkling comedy. Everything you see on screen is completely historically inaccurate – but that’s the point. Hail, Caesar! can wear its fail grade with pride."

 Here is the trailer:

 

 

 

Moonrise Kingdom

Now that the distractions of Christmas and the New Year are finally over we can get back to the serious business of screening films - and this week's selection looks a real treat.

I'd missed the reviews of this when it came out, but then noted it when it appeared in the Top Ten Films of 2012 lists that many critics poduced last month.

Here are my notes:

Moonrise Kingdom

USA 2012                    94 minutes

Director:                      Wes Anderson

Starring:                        Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and Tilda Swinton

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for 2013 Golden Globe (Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy)
• Nominated for Palme d’Or at 2012 Cannes Film Festival
• A further 11 wins and 27 nominations

 “The success of Moonrise Kingdom depends on its understated gravity.  None of the actors ever plays for laughs or puts sardonic spins on their material.  We don’t feel that they’re kidding.  Yes, we know these events are less than likely, and the film’s entire world is fantastical.  But what happens in a fantasy can be more involving than what happens in life, and thank goodness for that.”

Roger Ebert

In 1965, on a small island called New Penzance off the coast of New England, a young boy and girl fall in love, make a secret pact, and then run away together into the wilderness.  The people of the town are mobilised to search for them as a violent storm is brewing off-shore; as a result the peaceful community is turned upside down, which turns out not be a bad thing. 
The film is an original story by Wes Anderson who co-wrote on the script with Roman Coppola, who had also worked with Anderson on The Darjeeling Limited (2007), his previous film.  Anderson’s films often include an interesting and often surprising choice of music.  In Moonrise Kingdom young children listen to an extract from Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra in which the various instruments are separated and identified while the film closes with the fugue section that reunites all the instruments, suggesting the society being taken apart and then brought back together.  Meanwhile Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), the lonesome policeman listens to rueful country songs by Hank Williams while the romantic 12-year-old heroine loves the music of Françoise Hardy.

Wes Anderson made his name with the quirky comedy Rushmore (1998) and the comedy-drama The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).  In all his films he likes to work with the same cast and crew: amongst a number of regular players including Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson, Bill Murray has appeared in every film that Anderson has made to date and this has secured his reputation as a star of independent cinema. The current film also includes an eclectic cast list that includes such diverse talents as Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand (best known for her Oscar winning role in Fargo (1996)) and Tilda Swinton (who started her career by appearing in a number of films by Derek Jarman before moving to more mainstream films although still working with directors such as the Coen brothers in Burn After Reading (2008)).

The film received its world premier in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.  It subsequently opened to unanimous critical praise from critics and appeared in many lists of the top ten films of 2012.

Here's a link to the trailer:

Fargo

Apparently it is mandatory for every film society to show Fargo.  We fulfilled this obligation several years ago, and when I was researching for my notes I found the wonderful extract from a piece by David Thomson which I was able to quote in full:

 

Fargo

USA 1996       (98 minutes)

Director:          Joel Cohen

Starring:          Frances McDormand, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi

 Awards and Nominations

Won                Oscar for Best Original Screenplay

                        Oscar for Leading Actress (Frances McDormand)

Nominated for five further Oscars

Won                BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay

Won                Best Director (Joel Coen)

Nominated for a further five baftas

Won                Best Director (Joel Coen) at Cannes Film Festival

Nominated for Golden Palm

An overall total of 49 wins and 19 nominations

In Minnesota a small-time business man with severe financial problems hires two inept hoodlums to kidnap his wife in an attempt to obtain ransom from his father-in-law.  However the plot goes murderously wrong and a heavily-pregnant sheriff arrives from Minneapolis to solve the string of unexpected deaths in her jurisdiction.

The film claims to be based on a true story, but in his introduction to the published screenplay Ethan Coen undermines this:

“The story that follows is about Minnesota.  It evokes the abstract landscape of our childhood – a bleak, windswept tundra, resembling Siberia except for its Ford dealerships and Hardee’s restaurants.  It aims to be homey and exotic, and pretends to be true.”

Subsequently it emerged that the Coens’ inspiration was a 1986 murder in Connecticut where a husband used a wood chipper to dispose of his wife’s body – the Coens moved the location to Minnesota because they had been born and brought up on the outskirts of Minneapolis. 
 
The film was launched to universal acclaim and secured many awards.  It has secured its place in cinema history and recently David Thompson included it as one of only three films released in 1996 in his book “Have You Seen?” A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films where he summarised its appeal as follows:

“Fargo is just 97 minutes long, compact and efficient (cost $7 million; earnings $24.5 million), a sort of “the gang’s all here” of American independent film, and a quiet knockout.  When the snow is that thick, you won’t hear a body or a Douglas fir fall, just the hush being underlined.  But the tonal range of the film is what is leaving puffs of breath in the air.  From one moment to the next this film is gruesome, bloody and “Oh no!” as well as so funny you wish those starchy voices would stop talking for a second.”

In a career of nearly 25 years the Coen brothers have produced a series of brilliant films that have been successful with both festival and multiplex audiences.  Fargo is arguably their greatest film and until No Country For Old Men (2007) it was their most successful in terms of nominations and awards.

 

In case you need any more encouragement, here's the trailer: