Word: coens
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...This is a man practiced in deceit," says one character of another in Burn After Reading. "It's almost his job." Deceit is very much the job of the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen. It's as if, after winning two fat Oscars (best picture and director) for their fairly straightforward adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, the brothers needed to reassert their old capricious cunning, their weasily larkishness, their independence from easy acclaim. "Just because you agree with the Academy that we made the best film of 2007," they seem to be warning...
...that cult hit from the Coen Brothers, Turturro had a small, but memorable part as Jesus Quintana, the Latino bowler, who in perhaps the movie's most iconic scene stares down The Dude (Jeff Bridges), Lebowski's sloppy hero. "You said it man," Jesus barks at one point, trying to intimidate The Dude, "Nobody f---s with the Jesus." It is a line of dialogue still repeated today by giggling college students in their dorms - or waiting in line outside midnight screenings - and it seemed to play a factor in the naming of You Don't Mess with the Zohan...
...real world - which Hollywood honchos would define as the North American box office and the Oscars list - a U.S. film's showing at Cannes has little impact. In 1991, Joel and Ethan Coen's Barton Fink received an unprecedented three top awards (Palme d'Or, Best Director and, for John Turturro, Best Actor) but grossed only $6 million stateside; last year, the Coens' No Country for Old Men got no prize at Cannes, then earned nearly $75 million on domestic screens (plus $86 million abroad), and won the brothers three Oscars, including for Best Picture. Such Academy-nominated hits...
...Turkish director's 2006 romance Climates was so popular worldwide that it was at the center of a funny short film the Coen brothers contributed to last year's celebration of the 6oth Cannes Festival. So there were high hopes for Ceylan's new effort: the story of a politician, involved in a hit-and-run accident, who convinces his driver to take the rap, then has an affair with the driver's wife while the man is in prison. If you think this sounds like some crackling crime yarn from James M. Cain or Patricia Highsmith...
...Beyond the red-carpet celebrimania, Cannes can still offer what it has provided for six decade: a first peek at some of the world's best films. Last year's festival saw the debut of the Coen brothers' Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, plus such 10-best titles as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Persepolis the Israeli charmer The Band's Visit and the out-of-nowhere Romanian sensation 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. The Cannes imprimatur helped critics alert moviegoers to these fine films, and a large or little bandwagon got rolling. Mission accomplished...