Two Serious Men

So after seeing A Serious Man (SEE IT, guys, it's great), and reading a truly excellent AV Club interview with the brothers Coen, I wanted to dig into this book of interviews and critical responses to their films. Published in the wake of Big Lebowski (and with a few of the later interviews in the piece hinting at what would become O Brother Where Art Thou), it's pieced together out of chronological pieces on, with, and about the Coens. Which is interesting, to a degree (seeing how Blood Simple was received and how they were perceived in interviews then as opposed to by the time Fargo came out), but ultimately leaves the book pretty short on context or reflection. There's an interview series I flipped through in a Berkeley bookstore about a year ago (I remember a Mike Leigh installment in particular) compiled of interviews one single author did with directors over the course of their career, and that seems like a much more fruitful approach -- a cumulative effect with much less redundancy and thin focus. Throw in the fact that most of these reviews aren't, say, Rosenbaum-esque Considerations Of Films (in fact, many are culled from Variety and Hollywood Reporter and include predictions of fiscal success or failure) and you have a pretty thin, unsatisfying volume. Frankly, you're a lot better off reading that AV Club piece to get a sense of the brothers that doesn't come with a gloss of incredulous "BROTHERS who make movies TOGETHER? What a country!"

Guys! It's the start to an exciting new year where I complain a lot! WHO'S JAZZED ABOUT THIS? ...JUST ME? Okay, well stick around, this next book blows the friggin' roof off with excellence and style.

UPDATE: This is the book on the Coens in the Interviews series I mention above. Might check it out if I have the time and inclination, though I'm actually much more interested in the Mike Leigh and Robert Altman installments. Intrigue!