Burn After Reading (2008)

Burn After Reading (2008)

Written, Directed, Edited, and Produced by: Coen Brothers
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton
Cinematography: Emanuel Lubezki

It's such a Coen-esque film. You know you are an auteur, when your name becomes an adjective to describe something. Tarantino-esque. Coen brother's films are weird, distinct and idiosyncratic. They are serious, but also silly. For me the scene that encapsulates the tone of the film is the one where he shows her the "massaging" machine, and what it can do. Every character is so distinct and weird, even a character that appears only in one scene. For example, the doctor at the liposuction clinic. I'm curious to know how Coen brothers cast - because their casting does a lot of the work. They pick people who don't seem camera-friendly - and make the scenes work with them. All the characters have something in them off which is what makes it interesting. We look forward to every scene, no matter how insignificant it is to the core story. I think the story is just a tool for the Coen brothers to explore all of this. 

Right from their debut - Blood Simple - they have limited main characters, and a simplistic plot, and a few locations and settings. These are high-stakes scenarios, so there's a lot of scope for drama. Within this world, they go all out and explore all batshit crazy stuff. Even in a seemingly epic film like No Country for Old Men - it's essentially a fight between two men. It's always what they do with it that matters the most. Give the same story to Coen Brothers, and to someone else - it'll become a different film. And of course, the way they direct their actors, the way they use wide shots and place the camera extremely close to them to create a sort of comedy - if you give the same screenplay to others - even that'll be a drastically different film.