Sunday, July 1, 2012

Farmer Giles, Where Art Thou?


I've got this new obsession, which is basically spending all day wondering what would happen if the Coen Brothers directed a movie like The Hobbit.  No - I've got no problem with Peter Jackson.  I've been wondering it since No Country For Old Men, and last night, after watching True Grit, I dunno, I just can't get it out of my head. 

As far back as Fargo, I've always wanted to add their quirky realism to my novels.  I love that they make a story play out between the action scenes... and it's people's reactions in thier films that, to my mind, make them so irrisistable. 

There's also something about them that renders certainty and archetypes absurd - like the way the 14 year old is the schoolmarm of the film, and all the adults have to measure up against her.  Man.  That's just brilliant. 

There also seems to be an exploration of the defining characteristics of heroism.  The intrpid civil servants of Fargo and No Country left me with a feeling that I have yet been able to describe.  It's their fumbling, human-scale efforts that add tension, I think, and I can't decide if that makes the protagonists more of a hero or not. So maybe a movie like The Hobbit would be a bit much - though I am certain that I would personally loveit.  Maybe they could start off with one of his smaller works, sort of a Farmer Giles, Where Art Thou kind of thing.  Or Leaf by Barton Fink.