Author
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Topic: O, Brother/Moulin Rouge: Return of the Musical?
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Lancelot
Oscar® Winner
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The beginning is a very delicate time....Perhaps it starts in films like My Best Friend's Wedding and There's Something About Mary where whole casts break into song.... Well...maybe "Build me up, Buttercup" doesn't inspire ingenious films like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, but it does spark something for the audience, it seems, who, in the last decade, have seemed to expect singing characters only in animated films. A couple years ago, Alan Parker's vision of A.L. Weber's Evita hit the screens, demonstrating that at least some audiences could sit through a completely musical film. While the film didn't smash box office records, the soundtrack was a top seller. Granted that Evita was something of a musically cohesive work, and the music led the narrative.... The Coen Brothers' O Brother is something more of a patchwork, music taken from a common era, but grafted to the narrative of the film, turning a loose and relatively simple adaptation of plot into something more colorful and artistic. (Not imply a negative connotation of simplicty--not at all.) And now, Moulin Rouge, expanding on the "musical patchwork" concept, taking music not merely from a common era, but of a common and simple theme, such as Lennon's "All You Need Is Love" -- a simple message, woven into the film narrative of a practically Shakepearean-ly simple plot. (Note: "Shakespereanly" is not a legitimate adverb.) Moulin Rouge employs brilliant, almost-humorously grandiose orchestrations of songs that several generations have incorporated into popular culture. So where does the success of O Brother and Moulin Rouge leave us for the future? More of the same? As we may expect, the ticket-talliers of Hollywood are too uninspired to let a good thing alone....
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posted 06-26-2001 04:42 PM PT (US) ip
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Camillu
Oscar® Winner
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How about The Sound of Music: Special Edition ?
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posted 06-26-2001 04:49 PM PT (US) ip
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BobaMike
Oscar® Winner
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O Brother is one of the most original films I have seen in years...it was different, and seemed like a movie from another time. I loved it!  BobaMike
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posted 06-26-2001 06:14 PM PT (US) ip
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Timmer
Oscar® Winner
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Agreed BobaMike, great film
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posted 06-26-2001 06:37 PM PT (US) ip
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Al
Oscar® Winner
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"O, Brother" is the Coens' best, I think.
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posted 06-26-2001 06:50 PM PT (US) ip
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jonathan_little
Oscar® Winner
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I just saw O Brother, Where Art Thou? and I thought it was alright. I agree with BobaMike, it definitely was original.Charles Durning was the right guy to play Pappy O'Daniel, that's for sure! 
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posted 06-26-2001 06:58 PM PT (US) ip
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BobaMike
Oscar® Winner
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I prefer the hudsucker proxy more...Carter Burwell's score and adaptation of classical pieces is wonderful, and love the sets BobaMike
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posted 06-26-2001 07:00 PM PT (US) ip
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Shaun Rutherford
Oscar® Winner
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I'm shocked and dismayed that nobody (ahem, JJ, BMikeJ, etc.) has invoked the great name of Lebowski.Shaun
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posted 06-26-2001 07:09 PM PT (US) ip
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Lancelot
Oscar® Winner
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Actually, Hudsucker is my favorite Coen...that's just my own choice, though. It's a collaboration with Sam Raimi, and you see all the "fingerprints all over the film--including Bruce Campbell and Steve Buscemi in small-but-pleasing roles...O Brother was a pretty original experience, though. Again, it's not the story so much as the music that unites the various oddities and eccentricities... I think of Little Shop of Horrors as another "cult musical", though I have a personal history with that musical that kind of prohibits my own complete appreciation with the music. Still, lifting the plot from that old Roger Corman film, it put Menken and Ashman on the map, which some folks that have affection for the late 80's/early 90's Disney films can revere...
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posted 06-26-2001 07:24 PM PT (US) ip
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Kross
Oscar® Winner
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I am a Coen Bros nut and I was a little let down with OBWAT?. It was fun. It was still better than 60% of the stuff out there. It was a hoot to watch in all especially for the quick and odd lines that the Coen Bros are so well known for(there are many great ones in OBWAT?). It still, in my mind, is far down on the BEST OF COEN list. Fargo, Hudsucker(even though many scenes look very smilar to many in Brazil it is still a great and odd film) Barton Fink, and even the not perfect but fun Lebowski are all better than OBWAT I think.OBWAT was still really fun, if not perfect.
Musical also=Magnolia kinda, and Dancer in the Dark.
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posted 06-27-2001 12:49 AM PT (US) ip
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JJH
Oscar® Winner
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I can't say I prefer one Coen film over another, I like them all so much.
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posted 06-27-2001 11:24 AM PT (US) ip
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