If you want to see the other videos in the Directors Before Series check out this playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLXJ3434wIyxOaEfEr09aHMqn4YaMhBvrT.html I've done Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Terrence Malick, and now the Coen Brothers. Who should I do next?
Hi Thomas, I appreciate your videos and the clarity of thought you display in them. For suggested videos in the Directors Before Series: Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Alejandro González Iñárritu Stanley Kubrick Edgar Wright Quentin Tarantino Akira Kurosawa George A. Romero Paul Thomas Anderson I'm sure that any of those directors would yield rich, interesting, and informative studies of style through their feature-length directorial debuts. Best, Ross
I think its one of their best. They weave this plot based almost purely off of people making wrong assumptions about one another so effortlessly. The fully formed editing and camera techniques are ridiculous for a first time effort. I got back and forth between this one and Millers Crossing as my favorite Coen film. Blood Simple has a similar opening to No Country For Old Men given its shots of the Texan landscape combined with narration from a native with a pessimistic outlook on modern 80s Texas. The tense highway sequence from Blood Simple was basically expanded on in Fargo's highway sequence. Its interesting seeing those little aspects that can repeat or expand across a whole filmography.
I watched Blood Simple with low expectations. It was only the Coens debut, after all. But I was completely blown away by it and thought it was simply brilliant. Though not as polished as for example The Big Lebowski or No Country For Old Men, it is its grittyness that is part of its charme. Chock full of influences from other genres like Noir and Horror, at times funny as hell, and with one of the best and most intense murder scenes in film history.
I picked up on it when it was first released theatrically (from a few reviews) but was never able to see it until video. It made me an early Coen brothers fan.
Blood simple is similar to fargo in the respect of how bad a misunderstanding can get. One thing about their films is you get very tense about the characters and that they are very unpredictable.
It’s such a wonderfully structured noir. I loved how the various characters and motives just Crash together at the end. But what makes it so great is that it kind of jokes about how complicated the plot is at the end, and it ends up being literally the funniest thing in the movie in the movie’s final lines. After all the carnage, I laugh so hard at the end of that movie, to this day.
I watched it for the first time on a plane a few days ago; I must have woken a few people up with how loud I laughed once Visser (Walsh) put it all together and cracked up at the end lol
Blood simple was the first movie i watch from the Coens, we went one night to a bar, and there was practicaly nobody there, except for a band that was playing psychedelic rock, and behind them, a big screen projecting the movie, but with out the sound only the image, i sit dow with a beer and pretty high and saw the final scene, all the sequence in the apartment, and it was one of the coolest movie experience i ever had (Of course, later I saw the full movie, with sound, and I loved it).
Here is a recommendation for this series - "Hard Eight" by Paul Thomas Anderson It's pretty amazing the strong cast that he was able to sign. There are lots of stylistic and thematic elements besides the ensemble cast that have carried over into his later movies.
Your videos about Director's debut films are such a good idea (and very well executed) ! You can learn a lot about a director and their influences by looking at their early work. Looking forward to more of these videos in the future.
I just noticed how much they used Frances McDormand then I learned Joel was married to her. Edit: I looked it up and noticed it before you mentioned it at the end durr on me lol
Nice job putting the percussion in the right channel in the second half of the video. It's a small detail. But hearing that gave me an idea for one of my own videos. It feels like a breakthrough. And I really appreciate it.
I went to see blood simple. Loved it. One scene. Couple are arguing. In the background a newspaper is flying end over end toward the screen door. When the argument comes to a climax, wham! The newspaper hits the screen door. With that scene, I knew the coen bros were great.
This is such a GENIUS video essay idea, to trace the Cohens' style from their very first movie. As a Screenwriter who is inspired by their work I have found this extremely insightful. Thank you and blessings from Jerusalem.
Expected it to be roughly made, but it's very impressive seeing how fully formed their style was. The PI had the same type of characterization as other Coen Villians like the John Goodman character in Barton Fink, the hulking Swede in Fargo, the Sheriff in O Brother Where art Thou, etc.
They also touch on Schrodinger's cat/quantum mechanic scenarios here and throughout their work. In Blood Simple, characters appear dead then they're alive again (also in Buster Scruggs pt. 4). In Raising Arizona it's in the dialogue "if'n I freeze, I can't rightly drop. And if'n I drop, I'm a-gonna be in motion." In No Country, the emphasis on fate in a coin-flip. Tilda Swinton twins in Hail, Caesar. Nearly everything in A Serious Man!
I have watched so many of your videos since I came across you. I am so glad that i found this channel, and get to watch this great content. Thank you, Thomas.
I just watched Blood Simple, and while there was a lot more about it that I appreciated than I enjoyed, I gotta say (Spoilers) Visser had some of the most kick-ass final words I’ve ever heard from a character.
Nice video, although due to trying to capture their whole filmography, it stays a bit vague. The point at 8:07 is not correct, since Roger Deakins pointed out in several interviews, that his collaboration with the coens is often based on wide angle lenses (ironicallyespecially in no country for old men). Nice work though, keep it up!
Blood Simple: in my top 10 films (i tried to walk out when I first saw it because of the violence but my husband pulled me back down and said "Sit! This is brilliant!" He was right.
It's 4th on my top 10 list. Saw it with a buddy in 1985 without hearing anything about it. We saw the ad in the newspaper and thought it looked interesting. I've followed their career ever since. Loved most of their films, hated a few, but was never bored by one.
@@chiefscheider damn, i would say i've seen a couple that didn't interest me as much as others, but hate? you really feel that strongly about some? I'd be intrigued to know which ones.
Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, and Hail Caesar were the ones I really disliked. I just found those ones didn't have that Coen brothers feeling, to paraphrase a line from one of my absolute favorites 😉
@@chiefscheider lol, i haven’t actually watched any of those three. but i agree, for me, the coens are either an absolute hit, or absolute miss. though maybe that’s harsh, i like to try and find something positive in every film i watch.
The first coen brothers film was probably blood simple. But my favourite coen brothers films are 1. Fargo 2. Raising Arizona 3. The big lebowski 4. Barton finks 5. No country for old man
Interesting list, if I had to make one I'd probably rank them as such 5. Raisin Arizona 4. A Serial Man 3. Blood Pimple 2. Miller's Croissant 1. No Courting for Old Men
I think you should do spike lee's "she's gotta have it", Scorsese's "who's that knocking at my door", Tarkovsky's "Ivan's childhood", Damien chazelle's "guy and Madeline on a park bench", roman Polanski's "knife in the water", David Lynch's "eraser head" and Tarantino's "reservoir dogs" for this series
It's too bad Barry Sonnenfeld never quite took off in his film career like he likely expected to. Had he stayed a DP, he may have been just as formative to the Coens' signature as Roger Deakins
You have never heard of the Coen Bros.? They're easily one of the best writer and director duos of all time! My favorites are No Country and O' Brother. If you like film, and I'm sure you do since you are watching in-depth film studies on youtube, you will be blown away.
"The nedings of their films often leaves the audience unsettled. They rarely just hand you what you where expecting or hoping for". CORRECT! In No Country i was expecting an ending that payed off the story they had set up and that actually went somwhere and was good. Instead i got shit. Worst movie ever.
NostalgiNorden maybe it’s because you are not interested in there films. They make something of the best and interesting characters of the last 4 decades.
"Zero interest in making interesting characters"... that's fascinating, because the FIRST thing most people think of regarding Coen Bros are their characters.
If you want to see the other videos in the Directors Before Series check out this playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLXJ3434wIyxOaEfEr09aHMqn4YaMhBvrT.html
I've done Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Terrence Malick, and now the Coen Brothers. Who should I do next?
Hi Thomas,
I appreciate your videos and the clarity of thought you display in them.
For suggested videos in the Directors Before Series:
Guillermo del Toro
Alfonso Cuarón
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Stanley Kubrick
Edgar Wright
Quentin Tarantino
Akira Kurosawa
George A. Romero
Paul Thomas Anderson
I'm sure that any of those directors would yield rich, interesting, and informative studies of style through their feature-length directorial debuts.
Best,
Ross
Great channel. I'd ask for Gaspar Noe, Denis Villeneuve, Lynne Ramsay, or Yorgos Lanthimos.
Spielberg using Duel or perhaps even his episode of Columbo. Soderbergh with Sex Lies and video Tape.
Do Kevin Smith and Clerks
I think that Pee-wee's Big Adventure would be a great way to analyse both Tim Burton's strenght and weakness as a director.
Blood Simple is one of the best film debuts of all time
Yep, and their Roommates: Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead.
After tarantino,PTA and wes andersson's debut
I think its one of their best. They weave this plot based almost purely off of people making wrong assumptions about one another so effortlessly. The fully formed editing and camera techniques are ridiculous for a first time effort. I got back and forth between this one and Millers Crossing as my favorite Coen film.
Blood Simple has a similar opening to No Country For Old Men given its shots of the Texan landscape combined with narration from a native with a pessimistic outlook on modern 80s Texas. The tense highway sequence from Blood Simple was basically expanded on in Fargo's highway sequence. Its interesting seeing those little aspects that can repeat or expand across a whole filmography.
@@abrahamkassa2222 what about Pather Panchali
I watched Blood Simple with low expectations. It was only the Coens debut, after all. But I was completely blown away by it and thought it was simply brilliant. Though not as polished as for example The Big Lebowski or No Country For Old Men, it is its grittyness that is part of its charme. Chock full of influences from other genres like Noir and Horror, at times funny as hell, and with one of the best and most intense murder scenes in film history.
I picked up on it when it was first released theatrically (from a few reviews) but was never able to see it until video. It made me an early Coen brothers fan.
I was expecting pretty good given their Roommate's debut, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead.
And I was very pleased.
Repo man's always intense!
The Coens are masters at making the characters paramount to the story.
Blood simple is similar to fargo in the respect of how bad a misunderstanding can get. One thing about their films is you get very tense about the characters and that they are very unpredictable.
It’s such a wonderfully structured noir. I loved how the various characters and motives just Crash together at the end. But what makes it so great is that it kind of jokes about how complicated the plot is at the end, and it ends up being literally the funniest thing in the movie in the movie’s final lines. After all the carnage, I laugh so hard at the end of that movie, to this day.
I watched it for the first time on a plane a few days ago; I must have woken a few people up with how loud I laughed once Visser (Walsh) put it all together and cracked up at the end lol
Blood simple was the first movie i watch from the Coens, we went one night to a bar, and there was practicaly nobody there, except for a band that was playing psychedelic rock, and behind them, a big screen projecting the movie, but with out the sound only the image, i sit dow with a beer and pretty high and saw the final scene, all the sequence in the apartment, and it was one of the coolest movie experience i ever had (Of course, later I saw the full movie, with sound, and I loved it).
Steve Buscemi character from Fargo ! Loved it so much 😂👍
Slow start until it gets badass and you realize all the slow shit was setting up an insane story
Here is a recommendation for this series - "Hard Eight" by Paul Thomas Anderson
It's pretty amazing the strong cast that he was able to sign. There are lots of stylistic and thematic elements besides the ensemble cast that have carried over into his later movies.
Your videos about Director's debut films are such a good idea (and very well executed) ! You can learn a lot about a director and their influences by looking at their early work. Looking forward to more of these videos in the future.
I just noticed how much they used Frances McDormand then I learned Joel was married to her.
Edit: I looked it up and noticed it before you mentioned it at the end durr on me lol
Nice job putting the percussion in the right channel in the second half of the video. It's a small detail. But hearing that gave me an idea for one of my own videos. It feels like a breakthrough. And I really appreciate it.
I went to see blood simple. Loved it. One scene. Couple are arguing. In the background a newspaper is flying end over end toward the screen door. When the argument comes to a climax, wham! The newspaper hits the screen door. With that scene, I knew the coen bros were great.
I always thought the lighting, tone, and music in Blood Simple is real eerie, like who’s out there? Someone’s watching me?
Thank you for this video, Thomas. The Coen Brothers are my favorite filmmakers! :D
Just watched this movie! Holy shit had me on the edge of my couch no lie
This is such a GENIUS video essay idea, to trace the Cohens' style from their very first movie. As a Screenwriter who is inspired by their work I have found this extremely insightful. Thank you and blessings from Jerusalem.
Expected it to be roughly made, but it's very impressive seeing how fully formed their style was. The PI had the same type of characterization as other Coen Villians like the John Goodman character in Barton Fink, the hulking Swede in Fargo, the Sheriff in O Brother Where art Thou, etc.
Thanks for the video! I'm a huge fan of the Coen brothers and Blood Simple is a great film!
They also touch on Schrodinger's cat/quantum mechanic scenarios here and throughout their work. In Blood Simple, characters appear dead then they're alive again (also in Buster Scruggs pt. 4). In Raising Arizona it's in the dialogue "if'n I freeze, I can't rightly drop. And if'n I drop, I'm a-gonna be in motion." In No Country, the emphasis on fate in a coin-flip. Tilda Swinton twins in Hail, Caesar. Nearly everything in A Serious Man!
I have watched so many of your videos since I came across you. I am so glad that i found this channel, and get to watch this great content. Thank you, Thomas.
Do Paul Thomas Anderson!
I just watched Blood Simple, and while there was a lot more about it that I appreciated than I enjoyed, I gotta say (Spoilers) Visser had some of the most kick-ass final words I’ve ever heard from a character.
I just did too, and that’s a perfect articulation of how I felt as well, “a lot more about it that I appreciated than I enjoyed”
Thanks for this, Thomas
I've always thought Blood Simple was the Coens' best movie, and one of the best movies ever made IMO.
Nice video, although due to trying to capture their whole filmography, it stays a bit vague. The point at 8:07 is not correct, since Roger Deakins pointed out in several interviews, that his collaboration with the coens is often based on wide angle lenses (ironicallyespecially in no country for old men). Nice work though, keep it up!
Great vid! You gonna do Kubrick? Would be interesting, as his first film is a bit of a dumpster fire!
Excellent. Thank you.
Roger Deakens loves to (mild) wide lenses as you get better feel for intimacy with them. Look at his use of 35mm and 28mm in much of his work.
"Redneck noir" shot in the style of a horror film. And every main character is a villain.
Blood Simple: in my top 10 films (i tried to walk out when I first saw it because of the violence but my husband pulled me back down and said "Sit! This is brilliant!" He was right.
It's 4th on my top 10 list. Saw it with a buddy in 1985 without hearing anything about it. We saw the ad in the newspaper and thought it looked interesting. I've followed their career ever since. Loved most of their films, hated a few, but was never bored by one.
@@chiefscheider damn, i would say i've seen a couple that didn't interest me as much as others, but hate? you really feel that strongly about some? I'd be intrigued to know which ones.
Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, and Hail Caesar were the ones I really disliked. I just found those ones didn't have that Coen brothers feeling, to paraphrase a line from one of my absolute favorites 😉
@@chiefscheider lol, i haven’t actually watched any of those three. but i agree, for me, the coens are either an absolute hit, or absolute miss. though maybe that’s harsh, i like to try and find something positive in every film i watch.
The first coen brothers film was probably blood simple.
But my favourite coen brothers films are
1. Fargo
2. Raising Arizona
3. The big lebowski
4. Barton finks
5. No country for old man
What do you mean the first film was ''probably' Blood Simple. That's just a fact.
barton finks
no country for old man
Interesting list, if I had to make one I'd probably rank them as such
5. Raisin Arizona
4. A Serial Man
3. Blood Pimple
2. Miller's Croissant
1. No Courting for Old Men
I love this video!
I think you should do spike lee's "she's gotta have it", Scorsese's "who's that knocking at my door", Tarkovsky's "Ivan's childhood", Damien chazelle's "guy and Madeline on a park bench", roman Polanski's "knife in the water", David Lynch's "eraser head" and Tarantino's "reservoir dogs" for this series
It is impossible for me to watch Blood Simple without thinking of Evil Dead.
Please do Cronenberg! I find him the most underrated director out there
I just watched Stereo a few months ago! He's a fascinating director.
8:02 which is sad
early Coens were definitely more weird and I loved it
Great writers.
Yor are best work of before series
It's too bad Barry Sonnenfeld never quite took off in his film career like he likely expected to. Had he stayed a DP, he may have been just as formative to the Coens' signature as Roger Deakins
What is the film title from 9:40?
You should do Danny Boyle next!
You should do Kubrick in the directors befores series
Its still their best movie.
David Lynch took a lot of Inspiration from this film
oh - and David Lynch of course - The Master
Do one on Lynches Debut: Eraserhead.
The Evil Dead sucked, I am so sure.
But Blood Simple was a heads up!
Meaning 'crazed by violence' it
depicted it well.
never heard about them. gotta look into it.
DO IT! DO IT NOW!
You have never heard of the Coen Bros.? They're easily one of the best writer and director duos of all time! My favorites are No Country and O' Brother. If you like film, and I'm sure you do since you are watching in-depth film studies on youtube, you will be blown away.
Scorsese next please
I am the only one who did'nt understand that movie?
10 mins and you didn't say Noir once.............. interesting.
BRO
Leo is a cheater! He has infinite bullets and bullets dont work on him
The only thing I don't love about there movies is seeing the same actors /actresses over and over again
well in that case you're going to hate Scorsese and Spielberg.
"The nedings of their films often leaves the audience unsettled. They rarely just hand you what you where expecting or hoping for".
CORRECT!
In No Country i was expecting an ending that payed off the story they had set up and that actually went somwhere and was good. Instead i got shit.
Worst movie ever.
They have zero interest in making interseting characters or to pay off the stories they set up.
We learn this early on and it only get's worse.
I think a lot of their characters are interesting.
NostalgiNorden maybe it’s because you are not interested in there films. They make something of the best and interesting characters of the last 4 decades.
"Zero interest in making interesting characters"... that's fascinating, because the FIRST thing most people think of regarding Coen Bros are their characters.