O Brother, Where Art Thou?

One of my favourite films by the Coen Brothers. It oozes the atmosphere of 1930s America, helped by the contemporary music, the screenwriting take on Homer's “Odyssey” is interesting and funny, the actors are excellent, especially Clooney with his hair pomade. An incredibly easygoing film that always lifts my mood. (07/21/2002)

A sufficiently funny and pleasantly crazy odyssey, which has the drawback of relying too much on Clooney's comedic expression and bizarre supporting characters. When they escape from prison, I shake my head, when the Sludge Stompers sing, I almost cry with laughter. It's hard to choose, but the smile on my face remains even after the credits. (07/03/2006)

A screenplay wandering through the 1930s with a solid narrative axis that is deliberately absent while the characters pursue glorified moral values and overcome random obstacles and changing motivations. The Coens give a very witty and imaginative middle finger to the outdated social values that resulted in the greatest economic crisis in history, and their characters repeatedly break free of their shackles and escape to a future that, as children of a new age, offers them a gradual spiritual and official cleansing and rescue. It’s not buzzing with wit nearly as much as would be appropriate given the potential of the subject matter and the creative eloquence of Joel and Ethan, but thanks to an incredibly energetic grip, beautiful stylization, the actors, and one of the best period soundtracks ever, it's impossible to take your eyes off of it and not enjoy every one of the long line of original artistic choices and approaches. Plus, Clooney is awesome, and 1930s Americana isn't just about mice and men, it's also about toads, gangsters, pomade, and cows on the roof. I can't even believe the Coens haven't experienced that first hand... 80% (02/05/2017)

Thanks to the casualness with which the Coens put three semi-literate simpletons in the context of the progenitor of all voyage-and-return stories, it wouldn’t be hard for me to believe that Homer was a blind black man wandering the American South on a draisine during the Great Depression. The self-assured exploitation of the fact that most Hollywood narratives are built on the model of Odysseus is bold, but that alone does not guarantee a high-quality film. Entertaining in its peculiarities and accurate in its details recalling old times, old films and a lot of old myths, the film futilely seeks the rhythm, tone and theme of its narrative throughout its runtime. The trio of protagonists, who lose control over their own story (but discover that they can change the stories of others) outwardly head in different directions at every moment, and we should probably continuously judge their actions with various degrees of seriousness (from I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang through Bonnie and Clyde to The Three Stooges). But how can they be taken seriously when the most foresighted of them, on whose outfit the inappropriately cloying final act is built, is clear about one thing above all else, which is the kind of grease he wants to put in his hair? In the end, O Brother, Where Art Thou? is consistent only its “bleached out” visual aspect (Deakins’s camerawork is outstanding) and its exploration of the roots of American pop music, which, however, does not make it a hot candidate for repeat viewing. 75% (03/29/2018)

Polished dialogue, a retro style, fantastic cinematography. A sweeping journey culminating in the theft of a black guitarist from the Ku Klux Klan. Clooney delivers a knockout performance and John Turturro yodels unexpectedly well. (05/15/2021)