The “main problem with movies nowadays”, according to Ethan Coen
Movies have changed a lot since the Coen brothers entered the industry in the 1980s, and while they’ve adapted to it well, they’ve never resorted to merely selling out.
Filmmakers are increasingly bankrupting their morals and making the kinds of movies you’d never have initially suspected them of as the cinematic landscape shifts in favour of bigger budget productions designed to shift as many tickets as possible. Led by the success of the blockbuster and franchise domination of the 1980s, major studios these days aren’t concerned with making the next Persona or even Taxi Driver – and it’s hard to imagine a comedy as enduring as the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski coming out now.
Would the Coen brothers be able to make Blood Simple, their 1984 indie directorial debut, today? They might be able to get it made, but would it be able to kick-start a career as successful as theirs in the current oversaturated cinematic landscape?
Times have shifted, and the Coen brothers are arguably relics of a generation of filmmakers who were able to emerge from an independent background and rise to widespread acclaim in a way that felt natural and authentic to their style. Can this happen anymore without directors having to betray their roots and bow down to the Gods of Marvel or other IP worlds? It seems not.
The sibling duo have branched off to do their own things over recent years, with Ethan (the younger, but no less talented brother) recently helming the admittedly poor Drive Away Dolls and Honey Don’t!. They might not be great films, but at least Coen is faithful to his vision. In this case, lesbian B-movies.
Inspired by retro detective romps and crime comedies, Coen has attempted to hone a trilogy that departs from convention. Sadly, it’s not as good as his work he made with his brother, Joel, but at least he hasn’t branched off to direct a shitty superhero movie or a cheesy biopic.
So, what does Coen think is the main thing that cinema is doing wrong? Is it the lack of well-thought out plotlines that don’t rely on predictability? Too many legacy characters and franchises? Too many god-awful biopics and Oscar-baiting epics? No, it’s nothing as unforgivable as that; rather, he thinks there’s not enough punctuation used in movie titles these days.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter about Honey, Don’t!, Coen explained, “We like titles with punctuation marks in them. Honey Don’t! has the exclamation point. We made Hail, Caesar! with a comma and an exclamation point. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? had a comma and a question mark. There’s not enough punctuation in titles. That’s the main problem with movies nowadays, in my opinion.”
It might seem like a trivial thing, but the use of punctuation in a title really can tell you a lot about a movie. When you see the title Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, for example, there is so much more effect and excitement to be found compared to if it was merely called ‘Faster, Pussycat, Kill Kill’.
Similarly, the use of an exclamation mark at the end of Honey, Don’t! gives us an indication of the film’s comedic tone, whereas without it, it reads a little more brooding and sinister. It seems like Coen was perhaps too focused on the title than making a great film, however.
