S P L I N T E R E D | L I G H T

Burn After Reading is the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, who have now made 13 of my favorite movies. Since I enjoy their movies so much I thought I would just write a response to their newest film rather than trying to produce a polished review.

A lot of people are trying to decide where this fits into the Coens’ repertoire. I think it is like a combination of Fargo and Intolerable Cruelty. It is not one of their best films, but neither is it their worst. Combined with No Country it goes a long way towards showing that the Coens are far from spent.

The plot basically deals with three total blunderers (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Francis McDormand), one laid-off, low-level CIA boozer (John Malkovich), and his heart-of-stone wife (Tilda Swinton). A sort of misunderstanding, a little greed, some paranoia, and the fact that everyone is sleeping with everyone creates a mess that becomes a minor CIA crisis. The plot is very complex, but as the whole crisis is really nothing, it just kind of clears up on its own, leaving several dead and a few more wondering what just happened.

While the film is getting generally positive reviews some of the criticisms say it is ultimately hollow and has no compassion for its characters. I just enjoyed it so much that I didn’t feel that way, but I think the criticism is fair. I also think that it is a little harsh, and fails to understand the Coens’ intentions. I always get the impression that they really want you to enjoy their films as much as they seem to enjoy making them. If you don’t do this you won’t be able to tell what they are up to and might come out thinking they are hollow and cruel. Burn After Reading is not really cruel but a total farce, and not really hollow, but a send-up of hollowness.

Since it is such a farce I have to ask myself what makes this film good? I saw Pineapple Express recently, that was definitely a farce too, but despite some pretty good laughs I thought it was ultimately a bad film. I certainly thought Burn After Reading was funnier, but that might just be an issue of taste. All the technical elements are perfect–the Coens and their casts are just so good at making films. But still, it seems to me that there must be a greater, almost moral reason to recommend Burn After Reading over the masses of other comedies that are made.

I will say this–Burn After Reading is smarter than most comedies. I do not mean this in an elitist way, rather I mean that it will not make you stupider for having watched it. Mike Myer’s films and some recent Will Ferrell movies come to mind here. These movies have extremely low expectations of their audiences and do them a disservice by feeding them the most artificial and processed laughs – the filmic equivalent of Twinkies. The Coens have high expectations of their audience and do not dumb down plot and dialogue. I think that by doing this they actually give people a chance to learn in a strange unquantifiable way by watching their movies–even such a zany farce as Burn. I am not saying it is like eating wheat grass, but it is at least like eating homemade cookies with real butter and sugar.

Another thing the Coens do is let nobody off the hook. In Pineapple Express the characters are obviously morons, but ultimately the film confirms their lifestyle. It says, ‘If you get nervous just dump your girl, that’s OK… Bros are more important, and you’ll get over it anyway, plus she was a terrible person… You, on the other hand, make mistakes but you’re mostly a good guy… Weed sure does get us in serious trouble, but hey it feels good, and besides without weed life would be boring, we wouldn’t have all these fun times and crazy stories to tell.’ That is all a lie, and very insidious because it is buried in the film’s subtext. The Coens, on the other hand, are the only people making comedies in which the characters have to face the consequences of their actions. As a result of their idiocy and selfishness – people die. When we watch Burn After Reading, we can relate to the absurdity of human sin, and even feel for the characters, but not for a second are we allowed to think that what they are doing is really OK. The absurdity won’t allow it. In Pineapple Express the absurdity gives way to a nice little ‘moral of the story’ at the end. It all turns out OK, and we walk out of the theatre probably wishing we had some friends who wanted to go get stoned. But when we walk out of a Coens’ film, we do it shaking our heads, chuckling, and thinking, ‘Oh how we delude ourselves.’ 

Thanks guys…