Owen Gleiberman of EW is widely considered an embarrassment to legitimate critics. For him to call O Brother “the worst film of the year” (honest, he did) is just another example of obtuseness to be added to a long list of critical transgressions. The man’s a moron, truly.
Estrella: Very nice deconstruction of the allusive elements in the film. I see a Master’s Degree in Film in your future…
Oh, and hey, RickJay, don’t know if you saw my review on my site as you were checking out Eyes Wide Shut, but you came away from O Brother with almost exactly the same summary response I did. Nice to know we’re on the same wavelength on this one, for sure.
My own take on the movie was that it was about music, and crossroads: meeting Tommy Johnson was not just a side incident, but thh key to the whole thing. Almost every time (perhaps every time–I need to see it again) the plot moved, it was because someone heard a song and changed direction or the way they thought about things.
I also agree with Johnny Angel that the Odyssey thing is a red herring, which is just the sort of horribly post-modern thing the Cohen brothers are wont to do–In both Fargo and The Big Lebowski some sort of frame work for viewing the movie is set up and then consistiently violated. It makes you pay attention, becasue you are looking for parellels, for clues, that aren’t even there.
Although there are certainly just enough references to the Odyssey to keep one on one’s toes, I think that they are almost the inevitable result of telling a journey tale, one of the most persistaint plots in literature. If they had claimed 'Based on Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain" we would have seen parellels too.
Thanks, Cervaise! Actually, I was an English Major who spent several years studying Joyce and by proxy, The Odyssey.
The Coens may or may not have read Homer. But I don’t think that it’s just a claim they added as extra icing. And I don’t think that we would see references to just any book they named. Namely, for my reasons stated above, which are that the references are as obvious as they are subtle. To catch the more subtle things, it helps to know Homer. Regardless, it’s an exceptional on its own.
They must think it’s hilarious that they’ve been nominated for an Academy Award in the Adapted Screenplay category!
The film also received a nomination for Cinematography. I don’t expect a win in either category, but good luck to them anyway. At least it wasn’t completely ignored.
Fie on Owen G for giving O Brother an F grade in Entertainment Weekly. The Coens must have seriously angered him at some point and now he’s just taking it out on the film. Nothing else explains such a harsh judgement. An F doesn’t leave room for even the slightest liking of the music, which deserves an A+ itself. Yeah, I’d really like to know the story there.
I loved it and I can’t wait for the DVD. (I bought the soundtrack too)
Eq
“My ears are lucky to hear these glorious songs…”
Happy Rhodes
And the more perspicacious of us will notice that the emperor is resplendent in his new clothes.
Come on, you’re not the only liberal arts major here. We know how easy it is to find Homeric references, or Christ figures, or Freudian themes, or metaphors for the Aztec creation myth or anything else in just about any work of art. The movie uses blatant Homeric topoi, but don’t let that trick you into searching for deeper meaning. It’s a prank. The Coen Brothers are just messing with your head.