The Coen Brothers

Rating:
Summary: a real "shove in the bottom drawer" book
Review: It's hard to add much to Josh's review, and perhaps I shouldn't, as I put this book down after page 114. I too found myself skipping long (slow) passages and growing tired at the never-ending parrallels drawn between the Coen's work and that of other film-makers. I would have preferred to hear more of what the brothers had to say, rather than the theories and beliefs of their biographer.

If you're after an in-depth study at how the Coen Brothers go about making a movie, buy William Preston Robertson's "The Making of Joel & Ethan Coen's The Big Lebowski". It's a better read by far.

Rating:
Summary: a real "shove in the bottom drawer" book
Review: It's hard to add much to Josh's review, and perhaps I shouldn't, as I put this book down after page 114. I too found myself skipping long (slow) passages and growing tired at the never-ending parrallels drawn between the Coen's work and that of other film-makers. I would have preferred to hear more of what the brothers had to say, rather than the theories and beliefs of their biographer.

If you're after an in-depth study at how the Coen Brothers go about making a movie, buy William Preston Robertson's "The Making of Joel & Ethan Coen's The Big Lebowski". It's a better read by far.

Rating:
Summary: If you LOVE the Coens, you'll LIKE this book
Review: Ronald Bergan, biographer of such film legends as Jean Renoir and Sergei Eisentsein, has been commissioned to write the first offical biography of the brilliant, yet elusive American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Anyone who loves the brothers' work will enjoy this book simply because info on the bros is so hard to come by: they rarely do interviews and stay just far enough outside of the mainstream to avoid tabloid headlines. The book on the whole, unfortunatley, seems to have been rushed. Even the physical look-- from the type face to the occastional type-- seems a bit unporfessional. There were sections about the Coen youth where I, the ultimate admirer/fan, got bored and skipped ahead-- that is almost impressive. Once the author settles into his format, he simply goes through each of the Coens' eight films in order. That gets pretty dull and uninformative, especially if you've read The Making of the Big Lebowski by William Preston Robertson (and if you haven't, do it). The other major problem with Bergan's book is that he too often jumps the line from biographer to critic. While discussing their work, he will 'factually' point out flaws in performances, filming techniques, even script-writing. Aside from this being out of his jurisdiction, his opinions--which are just that-- come off as shallow and unsupported. If you're gonna tell me that the brilliant last line of Raizing Arizona ruins the whole ending, you better have good reasons why! Bergan doesn't. There are few of his critiques that i agreed with, but the point is that he shouldn't be making these judgements at all. But because the Coens have stayed to private, it's great to get your hands on anything that discusses their behind-the-screen struggles and triumphs. Learning how they got funding for Blood Simple was fascinating and inspiring for any film student or independant filmmaker. The brilliance of the Coen brothers is not quite reflected in this somewhat shallow biography, which seems to have been written partly against the will of not only the author, but the subjects as well. The true fan, however, should be able to find enough gems to be worth the price of admission. Ciao.

Rating:
Summary: Wasted Writing Effort and a Waste of Your Time
Review: The author of this book obviously feels he's as witty as the Coens. I hate to break it to him, but he's not. To make up for underachievement in this area, he fills the book with unneeded "editorial" comments on the films themselves. Why does the author feel he needs to criticize Jon Polito's performance in Miller's Crossing, and why does he think we'd care? It simply feels the author is stretching for lack of material, since he probably didn't get much cooperation from the filmmakers themselves. I attempted to make it through the entire book but kept putting it down out of frustration with the author. Don't waste your time with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Wasted Writing Effort and a Waste of Your Time
Review: The author of this book obviously feels he's as witty as the Coens. I hate to break it to him, but he's not. To make up for underachievement in this area, he fills the book with unneeded "editorial" comments on the films themselves. Why does the author feel he needs to criticize Jon Polito's performance in Miller's Crossing, and why does he think we'd care? It simply feels the author is stretching for lack of material, since he probably didn't get much cooperation from the filmmakers themselves. I attempted to make it through the entire book but kept putting it down out of frustration with the author. Don't waste your time with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Wasted Writing Effort and a Waste of Your Time
Review: The author of this book obviously feels he's as witty as the Coens. I hate to break it to him, but he's not. To make up for underachievement in this area, he fills the book with unneeded "editorial" comments on the films themselves. Why does the author feel he needs to criticize Jon Polito's performance in Miller's Crossing, and why does he think we'd care? It simply feels the author is stretching for lack of material, since he probably didn't get much cooperation from the filmmakers themselves. I attempted to make it through the entire book but kept putting it down out of frustration with the author. Don't waste your time with this one.

Rating:
Summary: What can one say?
Review: This book is supposed to be the first authorized biography about the Coens, but to be completely honest it's not much of a biography. The book reads more like a review of the Coens and each of their films. Much of the biographical information is interesting just for the simple fact that the brothers are so elusive that anything regarding their past and how they first funded their films is a gem not to be discarded. However, most of the book is divided into chapters that review and critique each of the Coen's films. Now, I didn't mind this, but a biography is not a collection of film reviews. It seems to me that the author (though possibly a fan) just didn't feel like writing this book especially since the brothers seemed so reluctant that he was writing it. Or true to Coen style, maybe that's how they intended the book to turn out (either knowingly or unknowingly to the author). Overall, an interesting, but slow read worth the time if your a film buff.

Rating:
Summary: A shameless pilferage of a much superior book!
Review: This volume is nothing more than an excercise in contract fulfillment on the part of a desperate author. The subjects of the work clearly did not participate. And for anyone who has read the much superior book on the Coens by William Preston Robertson, "The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film," Bergan liberally draws from Robertson's work without crediting the source! It's not plagarism outright, since Bergan "paraphrases" what he lifts, but it is certainly bush league for an author of Bergan's apparent stature. As one small example, Bergan's chronology of the Coen's teenage film efforts whilst growing up in Minnesota is a tedious, blow-by-blow (uncredited) retelling of Robertson's account that utterly lacks the humor and verve of Robertson's writing, and seems to take at face value Robertson's obvious exaggeration and irony! Don't waste your time or money with this one. Go to the original source, which is funny and insightful and features something this book does not: numerous interviews with the Coens.

Rating:
Summary: A shameless pilferage of a much superior book!
Review: This volume is nothing more than an excercise in contract fulfillment on the part of a desperate author. The subjects of the work clearly did not participate. And for anyone who has read the much superior book on the Coens by William Preston Robertson, "The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film," Bergan liberally draws from Robertson's work without crediting the source! It's not plagarism outright, since Bergan "paraphrases" what he lifts, but it is certainly bush league for an author of Bergan's apparent stature. As one small example, Bergan's chronology of the Coen's teenage film efforts whilst growing up in Minnesota is a tedious, blow-by-blow (uncredited) retelling of Robertson's account that utterly lacks the humor and verve of Robertson's writing, and seems to take at face value Robertson's obvious exaggeration and irony! Don't waste your time or money with this one. Go to the original source, which is funny and insightful and features something this book does not: numerous interviews with the Coens.