Joel And Ethan Coen: Film Analysis

Few names get cinephiles as euphoric as Joel & Ethan Coen. However, after making a name for themselves in the late 80’s and 90 's, the duo appears to have lost their touch, while struggling to make anything truly compelling. This could be because they have taken a small hiatus on their own sense of dark humor that made them so popular to begin with. In addition to this hiatus, The Coens now have created mediocre dramas with a surprisingly dearth amount of depth and levity. Their last film that I truly thought excelled in many aspects was Burn After Reading, mostly due to their signature outlandishness. With their new release of ‘Hail, Caesar!’, a supposed zany love-letter to the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, I ask myself if the Coens have returned

This subplot lacks any real tension, fails to jump on the momentum of the film and ultimately feels more like a series of vignettes for a different Coen 's movie about kidnappings. This could be because the film is oddly contrived. Unfortunately, this film tries to bite off much more than it can chew. The film is literally crammed with characters, sub-plots, skits, and set-pieces. So much so, that the film begins to feel bloated and contrived before the second act even starts. This is ironic because another Coen Brothers’ film, The Big Lebowski, successfully lampooned convoluted and contrived films.

‘Hail, Caesar!‘, to an extent, has many sub-plots that either don’t come to a resolution or have an off-screen payoff because the cast is so large and the Coens had a gargantuan checklist of things they wanted to add. I wanted to know if Ralph Fiennes ever got his film made and how it was received, I wanted to know if Alden Ehrenreich’s date towards the end of the movie ever got a follow-up etc. In a sense, 'Hail, Caesar ' felt like a film that was baiting for nonexistent tenuous